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'Onion Field' convict violates parole, on the loose
ap on Daily Comet ^ | 2/19/07 | AP

Posted on 02/19/2007 9:46:05 AM PST by NormsRevenge

One of two men convicted of the "Onion Field" kidnap.m.urder of a police officer in 1963 has violated parole and is being sought by authorities.

Jimmy Lee Smith, 76, has been at large since Dec. 22, said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Jonathan Parsley.

Although Parsley couldn't specify what parole condition was violated, but Smith went back to prison in June 2005 after admitting that he had violated parole by possessing heroin.

Smith and Gregory Powell were convicted of abducting two Los Angeles policemen from a Hollywood street on March 6, 1963. The officers were driven 75 miles to an onion field south of Bakersfield where Powell shot Officer Ian Campbell to death and fired at Officer Karl Hettinger as he fled.

The case was the subject of 1973 best-selling novel, "The Onion Field" by Joseph Wambaugh, which was turned into a movie in 1979.

Smith and Powell were sent to death row but their sentences were commuted to life in prison in 1972 when the California Supreme Court overturned the state death penalty. Smith was first paroled in 1982. He has since been arrested numerous times, mostly on drug-related charges.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: California
KEYWORDS: convict; onionfield; parole; violates
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1 posted on 02/19/2007 9:46:07 AM PST by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

Why was he even paroled????


2 posted on 02/19/2007 9:47:52 AM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Paroled is the problem here.


3 posted on 02/19/2007 9:48:50 AM PST by kinoxi
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To: Spktyr
'Cause they're a buncha bleeding hearts in Wackifornia.

Next question: what happened to Powell? Is he still safely locked up, or have they let him out too?

4 posted on 02/19/2007 9:50:06 AM PST by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: NormsRevenge
Jimmy Lee Smith, 76, has been at large since Dec. 22

A surprisingly quick dodderer. Souped-up motorized wheelchair maybe?

5 posted on 02/19/2007 9:51:05 AM PST by 69ConvertibleFirebird (Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.)
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To: kinoxi
Paroled is the problem here.

Nope.
No death penalty is the problem.

6 posted on 02/19/2007 9:51:47 AM PST by XR7
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To: NormsRevenge
"...said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Jonathan Parsley."

Apparently the best qualified man to comment on the onion field case. Perhaps they need to get Sheriff Pepper on his trail, and take him in front of Judge Bean when they find him.

7 posted on 02/19/2007 9:52:23 AM PST by Joe 6-pack
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To: 69ConvertibleFirebird

He's in his 70's and still doing heroin, so who knows


8 posted on 02/19/2007 9:52:57 AM PST by nuconvert ([there are bad people in the pistachio business] (...but his head is so tiny...))
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To: Spktyr

One of the big reasons for paroling elderly prisoners is to get them off budget for the prison system.


9 posted on 02/19/2007 9:52:58 AM PST by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: XR7

He should have been executed of course. People sat down, looked at his case, and let him loose.


10 posted on 02/19/2007 9:56:12 AM PST by kinoxi
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To: NormsRevenge

This sorry sack of garbage should have been gassed 45 years ago.


11 posted on 02/19/2007 9:57:09 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee (Anything a politician gives you he has first stolen from you)
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To: Joe 6-pack
If we had Judge Bean, we wouldn't have a problem. Both of these bad actors would have been hanged in 1963.


12 posted on 02/19/2007 9:59:28 AM PST by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: Old Professer

So, let him do the heroin and kill himself.


13 posted on 02/19/2007 10:00:28 AM PST by Bronzy ( Religion of peace? Huh? I hear that every day.)
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To: AnAmericanMother
Next question: what happened to Powell?

'Onion Field' killer Gregory Powell denied parole in Calif.
January 10, 2007

LOS ANGELES – One of two men convicted in the "Onion Field" kidnap-murder of a police officer was denied parole Wednesday from state prison. A panel from the state Board of Parole Hearings issued a two-year denial to Powell, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

Powell, 83, has repeatedly been denied parole ever since he and Jimmy Smith were convicted in the March 1963 murder of Los Angeles police officer Ian Campbell in an onion field near Bakersfield.

[snip]

14 posted on 02/19/2007 10:01:41 AM PST by DumpsterDiver
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To: Horatio Gates

What I wouldn't give to capture this turd.


15 posted on 02/19/2007 10:02:33 AM PST by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig (Life is tough. It's even tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Anybody here NOT read most of Wambaugh's books? I'm Po-Po and I have to say they are all very good.


16 posted on 02/19/2007 10:08:39 AM PST by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig (Life is tough. It's even tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: nuconvert
That was my thought. Why is a 70 something guy doing Heroin? It is ashamed a dirt bag like this can do drugs and abuse his body and he still lives!
17 posted on 02/19/2007 10:15:51 AM PST by martinidon
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To: Spktyr

Just goes to show, a Life Sentence does not always mean a life sentence.

The guy is 76. I would start the search at all Bingo parlors.


18 posted on 02/19/2007 10:28:55 AM PST by Holicheese (Beerfest could be the greatest movie ever made!)
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To: DumpsterDiver
Thanx.

I wonder if he's not already dead from an OD (a 70 year old junkie?) and you may find him in the course of your diving activities . . .

19 posted on 02/19/2007 10:42:25 AM PST by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: NormsRevenge
If I remember the movie, it was this case that caused them to teach Law Officers to never surrender their weapons no matter what.
20 posted on 02/19/2007 10:44:09 AM PST by BallyBill (Serial Hit-N-Run poster)
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