Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a pardon for Susan Kurzan, a woman who, as a 16-year-old, was convicted of killing the man who abused her and trafficked her for sex after she spent 27 years in jail, NBC News reports.
Kruzan killed George Gilbert Howard as he attempted to sexually assault her in September 1995. After her trial, she was sentenced to life in prison. In 2010, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger commuted Kruzan’s sentence to 25 years to life. In 2013, considering new guidelines for criminal cases involving abused women, then-Governor Jerry Brown reduced her sentence to 18 years, and Kruzan was released from prison.
While in jail, Kruzan became an advocate for prison reform, work which she continued after her release. Newsom’s pardon wipes away her conviction, which Kruzan has cited as interfering with her ability to find a job or get an apartment.