FEBRUARY 27, 2019 – UPDATE – SEE BELOW
Once again, we are asking for your help to keep Jose Gonzalez, the man who murdered James and Essie, in prison.
For many years, James and Essie operated a family clothing store in San Diego, but after Essie was diagnosed with cancer in 1977 and had to have major surgery and chemotherapy, she and James decided to close down the store so that they could spend all of their time together. They then began a going-out-of-business sale.
To help with the sale, Jose Gonzales was hired as a salesman, but James and Essie had to fire him for being rude to customers. To get revenge, on November 21, 1977, Gonzalez and some of his friends forced James and Essie to go down to the basement of their store, where they were tied up and bludgeoned to death.
For a brief amount of time in 1977, the State of California blocked certain sentencing options. During this window of time, there was no sentencing of consecutive terms, no death penalty nor life in prison without parole. Murder during this time frame carried no significant legal consequence, and due to Gonzalez’s crime being carried out within this period, he received life in prison for the premeditated, double, torture, revenge murder, but was eligible for parole seven years later.
The children of the Effrons, Gary and Cheryl, have spent most of their adult lives fighting to keep Gonzalez in prison.
On February 24, 2015, commissioners with the Board of Parole Hearings conducted a hearing for Gonzalez in which Cheryl and Gary presented testimony to keep Gonzalez behind bars. However, the entire process was a sham, as nothing that was said or brought to the commissioners’ attention had any impact on their decision, and at the end of the hearing, they granted parole to Gonzalez.
On July 1, 2015, Governor Brown reversed the action of the parole board and decided that Gonzalez was to remain in prison.
February 27, 2019 – UPDATE!! We are extremely pleased to announce that the decision was just handed down – Gonzalez’s parole was denied for the next 3 years. Many thanks to everyone that signed the petition and supported us through this process.
December 10, 2018 – We now have received official notice that the hearing for Jose Gonzalez will be on February 27, 2019. Although we have not been informed as to the reason the hearing is being moved up, we will continue to fight to keep him in prison. We have launched a new petition to the Board of Parole Hearings Honorable Commissioners requesting that they DENY Jose Gonzalez’s parole. We respectfully request that you sign the petition as an equally concerned citizen and we sincerely appreciate your support. CLICK HERE TO SIGN PETITION
July 16, 2018 – We have just received notification from the State of California Board of Parole Hearings that the next parole hearing for Jose Gonzalez has been advanced to December 2018 as opposed to July 2020. We don’t have any additional information at this time but will post updates as soon as information is released.
July 5, 2017 – The board of parole hearings has denied Jose Gonzalez parole and projected his next suitability hearing for parole consideration out 3 years to July 2020.
June 23, 2017 – We would like to thank everyone that took time to sign our petition to deny the parole of Jose Gonzalez at the upcoming parole hearing on July 5th. The petition has been submitted to the Board of Parole Hearings for consideration. We will post an update immediately following the hearing. Thank you for your continued support.
February 10, 2017 – We have received official notification from the CA Board of Parole Hearings that Gonzalez has been scheduled for his next parole hearing on July 5, 2017. We will again appear to testify against his release. We appreciate your continued support.
November 2, 2016 – Gonzalez has now filed a Petition for Review by the California Supreme Court. This is not an uncommon practice when a Writ of Habeas Corpus is denied by the Superior and Appellate court and we are advised that it will most likely not be considered by the Supreme Court, as such petitions are very rarely taken up at that level. We will post another update once we receive word that the petition has been denied.
September 20, 2016 – The CA Appellate Court has announced its determination in Gonzalez’s Appellate Writ of Habeas Corpus. Gonzalez has continued to challenge Governor Brown’s reversal of the Board of Parole Hearings decision to grant Gonzalez parole. After the Superior Court decision to deny the Writ of Habeas Corpus, Gonzalez petitioned the Court of Appeals. Today, the determination of the Appellate Court was announced and they Summarily Denied his petition by Order. We are very pleased with this decision and will continue to provide updates. Thank you for your continued support and prayers.
February 17, 2016 – Under the procedures spelled out in the law, the governor’s action should have been the end of the story. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
After Governor Brown reversed the decision of the parole board, Gonzalez filed a petition with the court, asking a judge to release him from prison on a writ of habeas corpus. In December, Judge David Rubin made an order indicating that he was likely to issue the writ and set Gonzalez free.
On February 8, the California Attorney General’s Office filed an excellent opposition to Gonzalez’s petition. The opposition made it clear that Gonzalez would pose a great danger to society if he were released from prison, and it emphasized that the judge is legally prohibited from inserting his own judgment in place of that of the governor.
Judge Rubin probably will not decide whether or not to issue a writ of habeas corpus until early March. If that decision is in favor of Gonzalez, the governor will have 60 days to decide whether or not to file an appeal.
To help persuade Governor Brown to file the appeal, we will forward to him the letters that have already been written asking Judge Rubin to deny Gonzalez’s petition. It will not be necessary for those who already have written letters to write new ones.
In the meantime, we are asking everyone who has not already prepared a letter to instead write to the governor and urge him to file an appeal. Those letters should be sent to our office, not to the governor directly. We will hold the letters, along with those to Judge Rubin, until the judge makes his ruling, and if he decides to issue a writ of habeas corpus, we will then submit all of them to the governor. Governor Brown pays attention to what we have to say. Last July, in his decision reversing the parole board’s grant of parole to Gonzalez, the governor commented on the letters he had received asking him to overturn the action of the parole board.
Here are sample letters that you can use to cut and paste. You are not restricted to the wording in the sample letters and can write a completely different letter of your own.
CLICK HERE for sample letter #1 . CLICK HERE for sample letter #2 . CLICK HERE for sample letter #3
Letters should be mailed as follows for compilation into a binder for the governor: Cheryl Effron, M.D., Inc. Attn: Jay Williams, 500 S. Anaheim Hills Rd #210, Anaheim, CA 92807.
Thank you again for your support! Cheryl and Gary Effron
The Governor’s Binder delivered 4/20/2015
December 18, 2015 – UPDATE – On Friday, December 18, we received very disturbing news related to the Jose Gonzalez matter and his parole that was overturned by Governor Jerry Brown on July 1, 2015.
Gonzalez and his attorney have filed a petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and a Judge in San Diego has issued an order directing Governor Brown to show cause why the writ should not be granted. In the order to Governor Brown, the judge indicates that he is inclined to reverse the Governor’s decision and set Gonzalez free. It is now the CA Attorney General that will prepare the response on behalf of the prosecution. That response will have to be filed by February 8th.
July 1, 2015 – UPDATE – We just received notice from the Governor’s office. He REVERSED the decision of the Board of Parole hearings!!!! Jose Gonzalez is not going to be paroled at this time. We would like to extend our most sincere thanks and gratitude to each of you who followed this story, extending your support and writing letters to the Governor’s office. Many of you have been sending us positive thoughts and extending prayers of support to us for which we are ever grateful. We now have 18 months before Gonzalez will qualify for another parole hearing.