Bill To Change CA's Elderly Release For Rapists Supported By SoCal Lawmakers, Victims

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A California Senate Bill named for two Riverside County rape victims aims to stop an action that forces rape victims from being retraumatized when their incarcerated attacker reaches the age of 50 years old. Both Mary Johnson and Bella Clark's lives were upended when their attackers became eligible for what the state calls "elderly parole."

The law promises to close what bill authors called "a dangerous loophole in California’s Elderly Parole program" that allows violent sex offenders to be released early.

Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R. San Diego) authored the bill, which was coauthored by Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen (D-Elk Grove) in a bipartisan effort. He was joined by San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan, who asked those present, "Under what rule does 50 years old qualify as an elder?"

Stephan and others stood in solidarity with victims — Johnson, Clark, and others — after the Senate Public Safety Committee unanimously approved the bipartisan SB 286.

Stephan spoke on the bill and the victims this week from the steps of the Sacramento Capitol building.

"I am overwhelmed by the courage of the people here behind me. It is amazing that after something horrific happens to you, you have to continue years later to fight for justice," she said. "The rule of law was not followed when the age for elder parole was dropped to 50."

Jones agreed, saying that “releasing violent rapists under the so-called ‘Elderly Parole’ is not only an insult to victims but a grave danger to Californians.

"SB 286 finally corrects this failure and ensures that rapists and child molesters don’t have a ‘get out of jail free card' just because they turned 50," he said. "Mary-Bella’s Law helps ensure the most violent sex offenders serve their full sentences, regardless of age, and puts the safety of Californians first.”

In 2024, violent Riverside County sex offender Cody Klemp, convicted in 1994 of 10 counts of rape, 10 counts of oral copulation on a child and 20 counts of committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, was recommended briefly for parole under the state's Elderly Parole Program. At that time, RivCo DA Mike Hestrin promised to combat the early release of incarcerated felons on behalf of victims and public safety.

"The absurdity of it all is that we should have to fight so hard to convince the parole board that an obviously dangerous rapist should serve the entirety of his previously handed down prison sentence. But that's exactly what we do and will continue to do every day until this madness stops," Hestrin said at Klemp's parole hearing.

Since then, Jones, San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan, Senator Suzette Martinez Valladares (R-Santa Clarita), Crime Victims United, and over 40 victims and victim advocates, have discussed the Elderly Parole program at length.

At the media conference, Mary Johnson and Bella Clark's sister, Claira Stansbury, spoke on the bill bearing their names.

Mary Johnson, survivor of Cody Klemp of Moreno Valley, stood in solidarity with other victims and their families as she addressed the crowd.

"I am the Mary in Mary Bella's Law," she said. "At 13 years old, while I was a foster child, I was sexually abused, raped repeatedly, tortured, shamed and degraded by my uncle." Cody Kemp had already raped four other women, she said. She was his fifth victim. Ultimately, he was sentenced to 170 years behind bars. When Kemp reached the age of 50, he sought early release based upon his age, a bad back and acid reflux, she said. "I had to sit before a panel of strangers, who then went on to grant his parole. My life was turned upside down."

Bella Clark, survivor of Charles Mix of Riverside, the Bella in Mary Bella's Law, was discussed with permission by her sister, Stansbury, who says she has dedicated her life to protecting her sister.

"Bella is a victim. She deserves protection and a future of a man who stole her childhood. Senate Bill 286 will prevent predators like the man who turned Bella into a victim and shattered our family from qualifying for elderly parole. Mary Bella's Law will eliminate one of the many ways these monsters can continue tormenting their victims even behind bars."

Mix was 49 when he committed the crimes he was convicted for, including "willful child cruelty, kidnapping, and rape, along with lewd acts on a child under 14," according to the RivCo DA's office. He was up for parole in September, when Stansbury last stood for her sister, who "is too traumatized to speak publicly about the horrific incident." His parole, denied, will be under review again in seven years, if Mary Bella's Law does not pass. He has only served 20 years of his 350-year sentence.

She described the parole hearings that victims must attend as "re-traumatizing. Every time an offender is up for parole, victims have to relive the pain of what was done to them. It's like opening a wound that will never fully heal."

According to Jones, the current Elderly Parole program was quietly expanded through "a last-minute, gut-and-amend budget bill, Assembly Bill 3234 (Ting – 2020), which lowered the age threshold for elderly parole from 60 years of age to 50 years of age," Jones said in the news conference. "The loophole in that bill allows violent sex offenders to be eligible for elderly parole after serving only 20 years."

He described AB 3234 as being "rushed through the process without a single Senate policy committee hearing. Proponents of the measure vowed that sex offenders and rapists would not be eligible for Elderly Parole, but ‘accidentally’ left out that key protection—and have refused to fix their mistake.

"Since its passage, multiple rapists and child molesters have become eligible for Elderly Parole, forcing victims and their families to relive their trauma as they fight to keep their perpetrators behind bars," he said. "Mary Bella’s Law will finally correct this dangerous loophole, ensuring that rapists and child molesters aren’t eligible for Elderly Parole."

A petition in support of SB 286 has garnered almost 700 signatures statewide, a number that is growing.

Jones spoke on the day, and what it means for victims of violent crime.

“I’m grateful to the Senate Public Safety Committee for advancing this commonsense, bipartisan measure and putting victims first," he said. "Today’s bill passage is a win for public safety and a message to crime victims that they have not been forgotten."

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