Tried as an adult when she was just 16, Kruzan was sentenced to life in prison without parole for first-degree murder. It is one of 16 others pardoned by Newsom on Friday and another 129 pardons, 123 commutations and 35 suspensions granted during his tenure, according to a July 1 news release. “She has provided evidence that she lives an upright life and has demonstrated her ability to restore civil rights and responsibilities,” Newsom said in a statement. “Ms. Cruzan committed a crime that took the victim’s life. Since then, Ms. Cruzan has turned her life around and dedicated herself to community service.” Kruzan, who says she was abused as a child, was 11 when George Gilbert “GG” Howard approached her in a red Mustang and offered her ice cream. She said Howard forced her into child prostitution two years later until she shot him in a motel room in Riverside, California, in March 1994, according to Reuters. Governor Newsom on Friday, July 1, 2022, pardoned Sara Kruzan, a former inmate who was sentenced to life in prison as a teenager for killing her former pimp, among nearly three dozen such actions that affected some other elderly and young offenders. California Department of Corrections via AP, File While governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger commuted her sentence in 2011 to 25 years, but it wasn’t until 2013 that she was released from the California Center for Women in Chowchilla, California. Her release followed a recommendation by the California Parole Hearing Board while Governor Jerry Brown was in office. But until Friday, he remained without grace. The pardon does not mean her conviction has been overturned. But for Kruzon, the decision was important. Kruzon told the Los Angeles Times that he released “these invisible chains that I didn’t realize were still written on me.” She added that she hopes her story “will have a ripple effect for others who identify with different elements of what I went through.” Kruzan has a 7-year-old daughter named Summer Reign-Justice, who will know about her mother’s past, but the pardon could help change the narrative, Los Angeles Times columnist Anita Chabria wrote in May when Kruzan asked grace. He added that the current criminal justice system is incapable of understanding “the complex and complex trauma, and it’s not just my case, because anyone who has direct impact with the system has been affected by trauma,” Kruzan told the Los Angeles Times. Insider was unable to reach Kruzan for comment.
