David Allen Funston is seen in a photo from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The state Board of Parole Hearings on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, reaffirmed its decision to grant Funston elderly parole, a move that has drawn condemnation from Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper and the victims of his 1995 child rape convictions.
CDCR
Pressure is growing on California parole officials to reconsider the planned freeing of serial Sacramento child rapist David Allen Funston after new calls from a pair of statewide victims’ rights and prosecutors’ organizations.
The Sacramento-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, headed by former Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, and the California District Attorneys Association formally requested that the state Board of Parole Hearings delay or pull back its grant of elderly parole to Funston.
Funston, now 64, is serving consecutive life terms in a Southern California prison for his crimes.
“This case involves extremely serious criminal conduct with lasting impact on victims and the community,” the foundation said in a statement Wednesday containing a passage of the letter. “Before any release proceeds, it is essential that all public safety considerations, victim impact factors, and risk assessments be fully and carefully evaluated.”
California’s elderly parole program originated from a federal court order. In 2014, a three-judge panel directed CDCR to implement a parole process for incarcerated people who were 60 or older and had served at least 25 years.
Funston is 27 years into multiple life sentences for kidnapping, raping and sexually assaulting eight Sacramento-area children, ranging in age from 3 to 7, in 1995. He lured his young victims with toys, candy and dolls in the attacks in North Highlands, Foothill Farms, Roseville and elsewhere.
He was convicted of the crimes in 1999; his judge sentenced the former North Highlands man to the multiple life terms, then seen as a guarantee that he would not go before a parole board.
Schubert served as the lead prosecutor on the Funston case, the first DNA case prosecuted in Sacramento County.
“It boggles the mind. These were horrific crimes against little kids,” Schubert said Monday.
Parole officials have regulatory authority to revisit parole grants before an inmate is released, the groups said in Wednesday’s letter.
The groups say California code allows the board to postpone or revoke a parole date “when circumstances indicate parole may have been improvidently granted or when new or previously underappreciated information raises public safety concerns.”
It was not known where or when Funston would be released, or whether he would be classified as a sexually violent predator under state law. CDCR does not provide information on the time or location of parole release, citing safety and security reasons.
Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper condemned the board’s decision in a fiery news conference Monday at Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office headquarters. He was joined by an investigator of the decades-old case, and a victim of Funston’s who was 3 years old when she endured her attack 30 years ago.
Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper speaks with a victim of David Allen Funston, who was convicted of kidnapping and child molestation in 1999, after a news conference on Monday at the Sacramento County Sheriff’s fOfice headquarters. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com
On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said Newsom opposed Funston’s release and called on parole officials in January to “re-review” their September decision to free the former North Highlands man.
But parole officials on Feb. 18 held firm, reaffirming the board’s decision to recommend that Funston receive parole, said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials. The governor’s office said Wednesday that state law barred Newsom from overturning the decision.
“BPH is an independent agency and made this decision,” said Newsom spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo. “The Governor asked for BPH to re-review its decision. The Governor doesn’t agree with the outcome.”
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Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.