Woman Who Killed Pimp Asks For Clemency
RIVERSIDE (AP) — A woman who was 16 when she ambushed and killed her former pimp in a Southern California motel room has asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency.
Sara Kruzan was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for the 1994 shooting death of George Gilbert Howard.
Prosecutors said Kruzan was no longer working for Howard when she killed him.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise says the petition for release cites years of abuse she suffered at the hands of Howard. Psychologists now say Kruzan was suffering battered women's syndrome after years of sexual trafficking.
Last year, San Francisco state Sen. Leland Yee made the Kruzan case a centerpiece of his proposed law allowing the courts to reduce life sentences for minors. In August, the Assembly killed his Fair Sentencing for Youth Act.
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