Kao Salee is set to be deported to Laos. Photo: Change. org petition to have have pardoned
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California's governor has pardoned more than a dozen people, including two inmate firefighters who faced deportation, and commuted the sentences of three people who were convicted of killings where they didn't pull the trigger.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced pardons for 14 people, commuted sentences for 13 others and granted medical reprieves for eight state prisoners. Those pardoned included Kao Ta Saelee and Bounchan Keola, who were born in Laos.
Bounchan Keola is with his parents. Their family fled Laos more than 30 years ago.
Each spent more than two decades in prison for crimes committed when they were teenagers and both helped fight devastating California wildfires.