Sonora, California – Tuolumne County District Attorney Laura Krieg announced today that Gary White of Sonora was found suitable for parole at a August 26, 2015 hearing of the State Board of Parole Hearings held at Avenal State Prison. Deputy District Attorney Cassandra Ann Jenecke appeared at the hearing and argued for continued confinement based on White’s continued criminal violations while incarcerated, a lack of sufficient insight, and weak parole plans. The Board of Prison Hearings disagreed and granted White parole basing their decision on White’s self-help programming, positive work history, and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Forensic Psychologist K. Kropf’s assessment that White posed a low-risk for violent recidivism.
White was convicted by a jury of attempted first degree murder and second degree robbery. In 1989, White and his co-conspirator Chalen Selvian forced their way into the Foster Farms Restaurant with the intent to steal money. The clerk present at the time, Pamela Comer, was led into the walk-in refrigerator and shot once in the shoulder by Selvian and twice – once in the head and once through her arm – by White. Ms. Comer was left for dead in the refrigerator and was found an hour later by her husband. Ms. Comer survived, but was severely and permanently injured.
White was serving a seventeen-years-to-life sentence. White had last been denied parole in September 2012. This was White’s fifth subsequent parole hearing. The Panel’s decision will be under review for 120 days and will be finalized unless the Governor refers the decision for en-banc review by the Board of Parole Hearings.
