Back in 1988, when he was only 16, Donald Schmidt was convicted of sexually assaulting and drowning a 3-year-old. He has since been under lock and key at the Stockton Youth Facility, the oldest ward of the state in a juvenile facility.
Back in 1988, when he was only 16, Donald Schmidt was convicted of sexually assaulting and drowning a 3-year-old. He has since been under lock and key at the Stockton Youth Facility, the oldest ward of the state in a juvenile facility. Unlike most other juveniles, prosecutors have fought successfully to keep him in jail. They argued that he has a mental disorder and is still a danger to the public.
That may change as early as this summer, when a parole hearing for Schmidt is scheduled. If he is released, Schmidt will still be subject to a three-year probation period, at which time he will have to live in an officially approved halfway house and wear a GPS device. These are just some of the conditions that he will have to agree to, along with extensive counseling and regular reports to his parole officer about who he has been dating. Nevertheless, Schmidt’s lawyer William Weigel is pleased that his client could soon be free after spending well over half of his life behind bars. “He’s worked so hard,” he says. “Don is one of the Youth Authority’s great success stories. He’s come a long way.” And now he may finally have a chance to come even further. Read more at KSBW.
