SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom has allowed the parole release of a killer who served four decades in prison for the murder of a developmentally disabled man who was buried alive.
Officials said Monday that Newsom took no action Friday on the state parole board’s latest decision granting parole to David Weidert.
Newsom’s acceptance of the parole recommendation allows the release of David Weidert.
He received a life sentence for killing Michael Morganti in 1980.
Newsom and his predecessor previously rejected Weidert’s parole three times.
Weidert and an accomplice forced Morganti to dig his own grave.
They then beat, stabbed and choked him. He suffocated after being buried alive.
Statement from Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp:
On August 9, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom FAILED to block the parole release of convicted murderer
David Weidert and now he will walk the streets again as a free man. On June 3
rd, 2021, our office, as well
as numerous concerned citizens, urged Governor Newsom to block the parole of Weidert, just as he had
done in 2019. However, today he chose to take no action, and the consequence is that a murderer will be
set free. Prior to Newsom, Governor Brown blocked Weidert’s parole twice, the first in 2015 and again in
2018. “Failure to accept responsibility” and an “underdeveloped sense of remorse” were the reasons the
Governors cited for blocking the parole of this dangerous murderer on those prior occasions.
Now, Governor Newsom has his changed direction, without providing any real information about what has
changed in Weidert to allow this grant of freedom.
“The truth of the matter is these prison releases are not about crime and punishment, or the rehabilitation
of criminals. This is Newsom satisfying the people who want to end incarceration and close our prisons,
even if that means the state’s most dangerous and heinous criminals are set free,” said Fresno County
District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp.
Inmate David Weidert was convicted for the 1980 murder of the developmentally disabled 20-year-old
victim, Mike Morganti. Inmate Weidert used Mike to serve as a look-out to commit a burglary, and when
Mike spoke to law enforcement, Inmate Weidert silenced him by luring him into a car and taking him to an
isolated location. Mike was then beaten with a baseball bat and a shovel, stabbed with a knife, and forced
to dig his own grave before being buried alive. Inmate Weidert was convicted of first-degree murder and
was sentenced to life in prison.
“I have been a prosecutor for 24 years and have worked on very difficult and graphic cases. The facts of
this case are the worst of the worst. Mr. Morganti was developmentally disabled, and he was kidnapped,
forced to dig his own grave, beaten senselessly by a baseball bat, and thrown in a shallow grave by Weidert.
Upon examination of his body, after his passing, dirt was found in his lungs, indicating he had been buried
alive. It is difficult to comprehend the gravity of the pain and suffering this young man endured before his
death. It is pathetic that Gavin Newsom is putting his politics, and quest for personal power, over the desires
of this victim’s family,” Smittcamp said.
