Newsom urged to block parole of murderer who tortured developmentally disabled Clovis man
A convicted murderer who tortured and buried alive a developmentally disabled Clovis man in 1980 could be released on parole.
The parole release of David Weidert, who killed Mike Morganti, has been blocked twice before by Gov. Jerry Brown, and Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp is now urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to do the same.
The Board of Parole Hearings decided in August to grant parole to Weidert. Newsom will decide by early December whether or not to overturn that decision, Smittcamp’s office announced in a news release Monday.
Weidert used Morganti to serve as a lookout to commit a burglary. When the 20-year-old spoke to law enforcement, Weidert silenced him by luring him into a car and taking him to an isolated location, where Morganti was beaten with a baseball bat and a shovel, stabbed with a knife, and forced to dig his own grave before being buried alive, Smittcamp said.
Weidert was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
In a letter to Newsom’s office last month, Smittcamp told the governor that her office continues to believe Weidert “poses an unreasonable risk of danger to the safety of the community” and that he should continue to serve his life sentence for the brutal murder of Morganti.
Weidert, 57, is incarcerated in Soledad.
Smittcamp is urging concerned citizens to contact the governor’s office at 916-445-2841 to ask Newsom to stop the parole release.
This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 2:07 PM.
