Grieving mom thanks Newsom after he reversed decision to parole her son's killer
Jessica Cordé wears a mask that says, "Fight like a Mom."
In the last few months, that’s exactly what Cordé has been doing. She’s held several one-woman protests in downtown Los Angeles. She’s paid for a billboard demanding justice for the murder of her son Marquis LeBlanc.
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She went to Sacramento in hopes of getting Governor Gavin Newsom’s attention.
Cordé says, "My goal was to get to the Governor to tell them what happened to my son, how they killed him for just being Black."
On April 17, 2009, Marquis LeBlanc was murdered by several members of the "Tinto Killers" gang at a party in Pomona that had been promoted on social media.
Deputy DA John McKinney was the prosecutor on the case.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Mom grieving loss of murdered son shares emotional message to LA County DA George Gascón
"People familiar with this case will remember that Marquis was beaten, stomped, dragged around in the streets, stabbed through the heart, shot in the head and left for dead in the street, unclad in an act of humiliation," said McKinney.
One of the attackers was Martin Haro, who was 15 at the time of the murder. After serving 11 years, Haro went before a parole board and was granted parole.
Cordé, who attended the hearing through Zoom, says she was appalled at the behavior of a female commissioner.
Cordé says, "She had compassion for him. And to tell him, ‘Congratulations on your parole, you're being paroled,’ and, ‘Don't cry. We won't hold your past against you,’ in front of my family!"
Although Cordé was heartbroken, she continued fighting for her son, hoping the governor would reverse the Parole Board’s decision.
On May 21, 2021, which happened to be Cordé’s birthday, she received a four-page document from the governor’s office.
The governor’s decision: "I have considered the evidence in the record that is relevant to whether Mr. Haro is currently dangerous. When considered as a whole, I find the evidence shows that he remains an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison. Therefore, I reverse the decision to parole Mr. Haro."
Feeling overwhelmed, Cordé says, "From the bottom of my broken heart, I thank you Governor Newsom because everybody that's paid to care about us, they didn't do it. They dropped the ball, but you didn't put your political agenda above humanity and I am grateful to you."