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<\/p>\nGraduation season has arrived in San Diego, and thousands of students are crossing stages across the county. Among them is 35\u2011year\u2011old Shawn Khalifa, who walked across the University of San Diego commencement stage this month to receive his master\u2019s degree in restorative justice\u2014a milestone he once believed was impossible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt never seemed like a possibility,\u201d Khalifa said. \u201cI never initially had a desire to get a master\u2019s degree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Standing on USD\u2019s campus in cap and gown, Khalifa looks like any other graduate celebrating a hard\u2011earned achievement. But his path was unlike most. For half of his life, Khalifa was incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, serving a sentence of 25 years to life for a crime committed when he was just 15.<\/p>\n
One day, older teens in the neighborhood planned what they believed would be a simple home burglary. Khalifa followed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it would be a sneak\u2011in burglary, no one would be home,\u201d he recalled. \u201cBut the homeowner was present.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under California\u2019s felony murder rule at the time, Khalifa\u2014who acted as lookout\u2014was held legally responsible for the killing that occurred inside the home. Proposition 21, passed in 2000, allowed prosecutors to directly file charges against minors in adult court. Khalifa never saw a juvenile judge.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy punishment was 25 years to life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In 2018, California amended the felony murder rule, limiting murder liability to those who intended to kill or acted with reckless indifference to human life. The change opened the door for Khalifa to seek resentencing.<\/p>\n
Even then, he wasn\u2019t immediately released. A judge initially ruled he still met the threshold for reckless indifference. But in 2020\u2014after 15 years behind bars\u2014Khalifa walked out of Donovan a free man.<\/p>\n
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During his time in prison, he was able to pursue an associate degree in Sociology through a program at Southwestern College. After his release, he enrolled at UC Irvine, graduating with a bachelor’s degree as part of the Underground Scholars Program. <\/p>\n
Khalifa also married his wife, Maria. The couple has two young little girls. <\/p>\n