Gov. Gavin Newsom has requested that the state parole board take a second look at the approved release of a Moreno Valley man and convicted sex offender granted parole under a program based on a prisoner’s age and time served.
Cody Woodson Klemp, 67, was convicted in 1994 for repeatedly raping his 14-year-old niece in his home in 1990. He has served 29 years of a 170-year sentence at the California Institution for Men in Chino.
Klemp was granted parole in November under the Elderly Parole Program, which makes prisoners 50 or older eligible for parole hearings if they have served 20 continuous years of their sentence. A parole board panel determines whether an inmate is suitable for release based on age and time served, as well as whether diminished physical condition has reduced their risk of violence.
The program, enacted in 2018, previously allowed for a parole review for inmates 60 years or older who had served a minimum of 25 years of continuous incarceration. The parameters changed in 2021.
Klemp’s grant of parole at a parole suitability hearing — conducted by two members of the board — was condemned by Klemp’s victim, now 48, and Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin. At the time, Hestrin called it a “devastating blow to victims” and vowed that his office would continue to fight on their behalf.
Klemp’s victim and Hestrin sent a letter to Newsom requesting a hearing before the full board — known as an en banc hearing — to reconsider Klemp’s release.
On March 1, Newsom referred Klemp’s proposed release for review by the full board. The hearing is scheduled for March 19 before 13 parole commissioners and can be viewed online at https://tinyurl.com/BPHExecutiveBoardMeeting.
Anyone who wants to attend the hearing via telephone can do so by calling 916-701-9994 and entering the conference ID 520 739 063#.
On Friday, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s office declined to comment, citing the pending hearing.
At the time of Klemp’s conviction, he already was a convicted rapist, having been found guilty of rape in 1976 and attempted rape in 1981. The latter assault landed Klemp in Patton State Hospital for three years as a mentally disordered sex offender. Klemp’s 1976 and 1981 crimes occurred in Long Beach, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
The judge in the case involving Klemp’s niece took his prior convictions into account when sentencing him to 170 years in prison in 1994. At the time, a probation officer who recommended the maximum sentence noted that Klemp threatened to kill the victim for reporting the sexual assaults.
Klemp’s victim, who is not being identified because she is the victim of sexual assault, said Friday she remains “very nervous” about the hearing.
“I can assure you if that man is released he will offend again,” she said. “I have to trust God with this. That’s all I’ve got.”
