I guess "Life" in prison..doesn't mean "Life" in California

**vicat777** · 02-20-07, 07:45 PM

One of the two men convicted of the "Onion Field" kidnap-murder of a police officer in 1963 has violated parole and is being sought by authorities.

Jimmy Lee Smith, 76, has been at large since Dec. 22, said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Jonathan Parsley.

Parsley could not specify what parole condition was violated. Smith previously went back to prison in June 2005 after admitting that he had violated parole by possessing heroin.

Smith and Gregory Powell were convicted of abducting two Los Angeles policemen from a Hollywood street on March 6, 1963. The officers were driven 75 miles (120 kilometers) to an onion field south of Bakersfield where Powell shot Officer Ian Campbell to death and fired at Officer Karl Hettinger as he fled.

The case was the subject of 1973 best-selling novel, "The Onion Field" by Joseph Wambaugh, which was turned into a movie in 1979.

Smith and Powell were sent to death row but their sentences were commuted to life in prison in 1972 when the California Supreme Court overturned the state'd death penalty. Smith was first paroled in 1982. He has since been arrested numerous times, mostly on drug-related charges.

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Pretty unbelievable that even allowed this scumbag out of jail ever!!!!!!

**Piggybank Cop** · 02-20-07, 11:08 PM

The nineth craper turds.

**jmur5074** · 02-20-07, 11:16 PM

In MN "life" means 30 years......then the opportunity for parole.

**10-42Adam** · 02-21-07, 01:20 AM

Just another reason why the system doesn't make sense at all...

**J-WS6** · 02-21-07, 04:32 AM

I hope he gets caught by a passing train.

**lewisipso** · 02-21-07, 07:02 AM

Here two co workers were shot in the head in 1996. One of the officers was a graze the other was an entry through his forehead. He will never be the same again. Completely disabled. First career job he had. Three weeks in and 20 years old. The suspect drew 46 years.
Sometimes it seems life here amounts to 2 years supervised probation. Another conviction is usually probation again on top of that. (No kidding)(I thought that was illegal but who am I). A third conviction is an unsatisfactory termination of probation and the suspect is free of any obligation.