Family, Sacramento County DA trying to keep convicted drunken driver in prison
GALT -- Sacramento County's District Attorney Thien Ho is fighting alongside a Galt family to ask the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to reconsider the conditional release of a convicted drunken driver, starting a petition calling for "Justice for Angel."
Ho and the family of Angel Renteria, 19, are asking that the woman convicted of hitting and permanently injuring Angel serve the entirety of her eight-year sentence behind bars.
"I believe in redemption, I believe in the opportunity to have an efficient reentry program. But all you have to do in this situation is check a box on a form asking to be released and that's exactly what happened here," said Ho. "We don't know what the process was, whether there was an analysis done, a vetting done. Anything at all. And all the sudden, she is being let out."
Ho learned from Angel's mother, Kelly Carr, that CDCR plans to release the offender Devin Calderon to a "Community Transitional Reentry Program" in Sacramento, which the agency still considers "in-custody" while the offender is at a supervised facility outside of prison walls in the community and subject to electronic monitoring.
Carr got a letter in the mail from CDCR alerting her to the upcoming early release, scheduled for Feb. 21, 2025.
Angel's family says it is too much freedom for someone sentenced to eight years behind bars, of which a judge ruled she would be required to serve four years, on several charges related to the drunken driving incident that forever changed Angel's life.
"You know, Angel got a life sentence. And this girl gets 22 months," said Carr.
Calderon is just shy of two years served at the California Institution for Women - Corona.
She was convicted of driving with a blood-alcohol-content three times the legal limit when she swerved her vehicle right into then 16-year-old Angel as she was walking her dog and left her for dead. Galt Police found Angel in a pool of her own blood on Ayers Lane on March 14, 2022.
Ho said Calderon fled the scene and was only later arrested when she was driving back past the scene and accidentally crashed into a Galt Police cruiser. Ho also adds that Calderon had attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that same day.
"This is an injustice," Ho said of her release. "There is a lack of transparency. We never even received notice from the Department of Corrections that this was happening. So how many other cases is this happening in? This inmate showed absolutely no remorse at sentencing with what she did to Angel."
Ho said both he and Angel's family should have been given the chance to protest this release before it was granted, as is standard in a typical State Board of Parole Hearing.
CDCR does not consider an offender who participates in their Female Community Reentry Program to be paroled, rather that they are still serving their time outside of prison walls.
"My hope now is that they realize they made a mistake. She needs to serve her time in prison where she was sentenced," said Carr.
Carr, a former nurse, is now a full-time nurse at home to her daughter who needs 24/7 care. Angel sleeps in a hospital bed right at her mother's side.
It is a constant reminder for Carr of all the things her 19-year-old daughter should not have to do.
"Wear diapers, be fed through a tube and not able to speak. Just like a baby as an adult. Because of someone's selfish decision," said Carr.
Carr said the release from prison sends the wrong message to those who choose to drive drunk and calls this a slap on the wrist for the Calderon -- but a slap in the face to the victims.
"I had to quit my career and stay home to take care of her. It's changed many people's lives," said Carr.
Now, Angel's advocates are rallying to keep the woman who hit her behind bars, including Rhonda Campbell of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
"To be quite honest, I'm mad," said Campbell. "Our statistics tell us that recidivism is over 30 percent in the state of California. My case load at MAAD, I probably have 60 to 80 active victims, I don't have a single case right now that is a first-time offender. They are all repeat offenders."
Campbell is standing alongside Angel's family and DA Ho as their petition has grown to more than 5,000 signatures as of Monday.
Ho also sent a letter to CDCR's secretary asking for a reversal of this decision.
"I just don't see how when somebody makes a choice to do something so irresponsible, the victim is the only one left to pay the price," said Campbell.
Though Angel, in her severe lifelong injuries, can no longer speak -- she still uses sign language to make her voice heard.
She signed the words "no drinking and driving" for CBS13, with her mother and DA Ho standing at her side.
CDCR did not respond to CBS13 by deadline Monday, but information on state websites indicates that people released into reentry programs are considered to be in CDCR custody as they are transitioned to these supervised facilities out in the community.
The goal of the Female Community Reentry Program is to reduce recidivism.