California Gov. Gavin Newsom granted 19 pardons on Nov. 27, including one for a Pulitzer Prize finalist who spent more than two decades imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison.
Walter Earlonne Woods, who co-founded the “Ear Hustle” podcast—the first-ever podcast recorded and produced entirely from prison—was granted a “full and unconditional” pardon by Newsom.
Newsom’s act of clemency for Woods “does not minimize or forgive his conduct or the harm it caused,” but does “recognize the work he has done since to transform himself,” according to the gubernatorial clemency certificate.
Woods was sentenced in 1989 to 10 years in prison for residential burglary and kidnapping, the certificate states. He was 17 years old when he was sentenced….