As a reminder and per our previous December 2021 Parole Hearing SCHOLARSHIP BLOG; the Winner received Attorney Letarte’s PRO BONO (free) representation at their 2022 Parole Hearing. The Scholarship was made available throughout the 35 California State Prisons, as posted in the 2021 Prison Newsletters that endorsed our Scholarship. The two Newsletters were: ECC and POSSE as described below.
In the last several 2022 months, our law office was preparing the WINNER of the Parole Hearing Scholarship for his Board hearing. He followed all of our presentation strategies and did the requested homework including, re-writing each specific Relapse Prevention Plan(s), Apology letters, Book Reports, and Essays. All parties attended the VIDEO Parole Hearing including our client, who hails from CTF-Soledad. After several hours of questioning by the Panel, my client appeased all the Panel’s concerns and it was found that he did NOT pose an unreasonable threat of violence, if release to the free community. Of Course, there is a 150-day waiting period from the BPH Review Unit and the Governor’s office for the Decision to become Final.
A Big Congratulations to Anthony Stevenson, especially after being discouraged to enter the Scholarship’s writing contest, by some negative thinking peers. To his credits he found the courage to not only ENTER the Scholarship but actually WIN it! He relayed that he had never won anything in his life! The best part of it was that when he went to the Board with Attorney Letarte, and after some deliberation by the Commissioners, he was found SUITABLE on 5/19/2022.
We now have authorization to post the NAMEs of the Winner as well as the runner-ups from our Parole Hearing 2021.
PRIZEs:
1st Place Winner received a Pro Bono representation by Attorney Letarte at his 2022 Parole Hearing.
2nd and 3rd place winners did receive the revised TIPS document (authored by Attorney Letarte, consisting of over 40+ pages) to assist with their own preparation at their next parole hearing. In addition, they received our Law Office’s 2022 Wall Calendar to keep track of all their important dates.
2021 SCHOLARSHIP NAMES for the 2022 Parole Hearing:
1st Place Winner was represented [Pro Bono] by Attorney Diane T. Letarte***
1st Place WINNER from Correctional Training Facility (CTF) State Prison, Anthony Stevenson was admitted in October 1994 and is currently 48 years old. His Parole Eligible Date was 2/2011; Has been in the Board cycle since 2009.
Anthony Stevenson was found SUITABLE for Parole on 5/19/2022 !
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Although Attorney Letarte did not represent the runner-ups they deserved recognition for their writing essay skills that showed insight into their crime.
2nd Place (1st runner-up) from Ca. Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (SATF-COR)
Richard Newman was admitted in June 1997 and is currently 51 years old.
His Parole Eligible Date was 4/2004; Has been in the Board cycle since 2004 (denied 3 years in 2022) and returning in 2025
3rd Place (2nd runner-up) from Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP)
Russell Farden was admitted in March 2009 and is currently 43 years old. His Parole Eligible Date was 10/2021; His Initial Board Hearing was postponed to late 2022
NOTE OF INTEREST: We also heard back from some others [non-winner] scholarship applicants stating that the Scholarship writing essay made them gain more self-introspection. With that new gained insight they were better prepared for their Board Hearing(s) and some were found suitable when they went to their 2022 Board Parole Hearing. ==============================================================
We may entertain doing a 2022 Scholarship for a 2023 hearing, depending on the availability of Attorney Letarte. Please keep your eyes open for the next potential Scholarship listed (on this BLOG) and in the ECC or POSSE newsletters. The newsletters are usually found at the Prison library for Free or via a subscription to either newsletter listed below. You can write to subscribe to them.
ECC P.O. Box 5010 Irvine, CA 92619
POSSE P.O. Box 900188 Palmdale, CA 93590 ==============================================================
The OLD 2021 CRITERIA for the Scholarship Application WAS as stated below.
One can anticipate similar criteria for a potential 2022 Parole Hearing Scholarship for a 2023 hearing.
1) No CDC-115 (RVRs) , in the last 5 years
2) Psychological Evaluation (a.k.a. CRA) risk rating is either a Low or a Moderate
3) You are NOT currently represented by a private attorney or a Law School Program
