California Gov. Newsom denies parole for convicted Fresno County murderer
A convicted murderer who tortured and buried alive a developmentally disabled Clovis man in 1980 was denied parole by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday.
This marks the third time (two by Gov. Jerry Brown) David Weidert was denied parole for killing Mike Morganti.
Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp had urged Gov. Newsom to block parole for Weidert.
“Today is a great day for justice in the State of California,” Smittcamp said in a news release Friday. “Governor Newsom made the right choice in denying this inmate the opportunity to be paroled. However, change needs to be made to legislation that currently allows Weidert the opportunity to be considered for release again in one year. He was previously denied parole by Governor Brown on June 26, 2016 and again on August 3, 2018. Newsom’s concurrence with Brown’s prior reversals reaffirms the fact that Weidert deserves the sentence he received.”
The Board of Parole Hearings decided in August to grant parole to Weidert.
Gov. Newsom had 150 days from the hearing to reverse that decision and did so with a written reversal dated Jan. 9. The Governor’s reversal was made available to the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office on Jan. 10.
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.
Weidert, 57, is incarcerated in Soledad.
“I have considered the evidence in the record that is relevant to whether Mr. Weidert is currently dangerous,” Gov. Newsom wrote. “When considered as a whole, I find the evidence shows that he currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison at this time.”
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 4:08 PM.
