Donald Schmidt, state's oldest juvenile inmate, seeks release

I highly agree !!!!!!!!!!

Instead of the personal freedom controlling (cell phones, helmets, kids in car seats till 18, etc) that the liberal state senator is involved in...why not a law that can allow the transfer of sick twisted perverts like this from the youth authority to the prison system.

Enough is enough. What a money costing joke this trial is. Give me a break.

Never, never let this guy out. I remember this case, my children were toddlers at the time. I cannot believe he has survived in prison this long. Was he isolated?

doald scmid shoud have been kiled for doing what he did to that 3yr old little girl

look what meth makes people do ..and he had the strong stuff.from fremont..this guy should never see daylight again ,if we cant put him to death

no doubt our "progressive" friends will find a thousand reasons to excuse or explain his evil actions and push for his release.

what he did is so frightening impossible to forget...
I wouldn't trusts him near children.
he really did something bad to society so bad that is hard to think of giving him a second chance.
if it was self defense or petty something maybe but this an horrendous crime against a very small child.
god know better.

Who gives a Schmidt about this guy? Not me!

It's not like bounced a check and deserves another chance to be a better bookkeeper. He took the entire life of another person and in a horrific way-not by accident. He already had a chance and wasted it. End of story. It's not like society is being unfair.

Know you are just doing your job, and that's fine, but don't forget that if Schmidt is released he will most likely end up in the San Lorenzo Valley

Just after I arrived in Santa Cruz 10 years ago, I was one of about ca. 200 people called for his initial jury pool. Apparently, this guy is entitled to a jury trial every two or three years to determine whether he stays in the CYA or gets to walk free. Fortunately, I was not selected for the jury (I had a 2 year old at the time and was needed at home). I later learned it ended in a mistrial because it turned out the psychologist that evaluated him and claimed he was no threat to society had fraudulent credentials.

It was a great introduction to Santa Cruz. What a wonderful town to raise children.

progressive, my @$$. castrate the basta'd. prefrontal lobotomy, too, while we're at it. then put the drooler somewhere safe where he can stamp out license plates for the rest of his life.

Prepare yourselves normal, civilized, working folk. This guy is going free for sure. I'm not qualified to answer why but I guarantee you that someone is and they'll be heard by the Judge. This is America - the eff ups always get second chances because they are so "human" and the releaser does not want to deal with the likes of the "ALCU" and all the other pseudo-rights protecting NGO's if he or she says "no way". Don't fret though, folks like me can play the Bernard Goetz card.

I also remember this crime and it was horrendous. However the Sentinel has only done half a job. The mother was also found unfit at the time and the neighbor had reported her to CPS several times. The little baby girl would be wandering around unattended in a dirty diaper! But the Sentinel gives her a forum to fictionalize the hellhole she was raising her daughters in just to give it to Donald Schmidt one more time.

Under our system of justice, a person can be tried as a juvenile or tried as an adult. He was tried as a juvenile. We can't change that. When a person has completed his/her time, under the law they should be released. If they are deemed a danger, then they should be institutionalized in a mental hospital and helped to get well.

Can't any of you read? He says that he was himself raped repeatedly by people who should have been protecting him. The MOTHER probably gave him the meth which makes people over-sexed. Combine rage and meth, and a teenage brain which acts of impulse rather than reason and this disaster occurred.

Justice calls for his release.

This is one of the ugliest crimes I've ever heard of. They NEED to turn it into a Law & Order: SVU episode.

Maybe Bill Weigel can adopt him and he can live with his family and be responsible for his actions? Good idea!

Becky Johnson wrote:

I also remember this crime and it was horrendous. However the Sentinel has only done half a job. The mother was also found unfit at the time and the neighbor had reported her to CPS several times. The little baby girl would be wandering around unattended in a dirty diaper! But the Sentinel gives her a forum to fictionalize the hellhole she was raising her daughters in just to give it to Donald Schmidt one more time.
Under our system of justice, a person can be tried as a juvenile or tried as an adult. He was tried as a juvenile. We can't change that. When a person has completed his/her time, under the law they should be released. If they are deemed a danger, then they should be institutionalized in a mental hospital and helped to get well.
Can't any of you read? He says that he was himself raped repeatedly by people who should have been protecting him. The MOTHER probably gave him the meth which makes people over-sexed. Combine rage and meth, and a teenage brain which acts of impulse rather than reason and this disaster occurred.
Justice calls for his release.

Everything you said until the last sentence made sense. The trial he is entitled to is the justice, and the jury is to decide whether or not he is fit to be released. That is how the system of justice is supposed to work.

Many children were raised in Nazi concentration camps but turned out to be fully functional adults. The fact that this guy was allegedly (he "claims") a victim of repeated crimes does not absolve him of responsibility. In addition, he is a sex offender, so the question of whether he can be rehabilitated is what is directly relevant to whether or not he should be released.

If someone who is not otherwise a criminal becomes a sex offender due to a brain tumor, we don't give him a free pass and release him into the general public. There are two concerns here: Punishment for a crime, and preventing future crime. There is very strong evidence that this guy remains a threat to society.

any where else no one hears a word about this guy again but leave it to Mr Lee way to go .. your office will set him free .. no way 12 would be on your same page

Brian wrote:

no doubt our "progressive" friends will find a thousand reasons to excuse or explain his evil actions and push for his release.

This sick flu*ker should never see the light of day again.
He also provides ample reason to continue the war on drugs. This is what meth does to the human spirit. He took it, it is his fault, I have no sympathy for him. I only wish the dealers that supplied him would go down as well.

Hey Becky, I knew this poor kid before he killed the child.
He is very sick- murderous. I believe he was abused terribly and I could see his desperate anger. I dont think people like this could ever get the help they would need, to live a normal, safe life in society. If we had the mental facilities to take these types of criminals we probabally wouldnt be in this predicament now would we!