Sacramento, CA— Before Governor Gavin Newsom considers commuting California’s death sentences, Sandy Friend wants him to remember one name: Michael Lyons.

Michael was her 8-year-old son. He loved fishing, camping and finding sand dollars. He brought his mother flowers and watched over his sisters. In May 1996, he left school in Yuba City and never came home.

Today, Michael’s mom Sandy, Crime Victims United and the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation are jointly releasing her personal statement, “A Mother’s Plea for Justice,” calling on Newsom to meet with victims’ families, confront the facts of individual cases and reject blanket commutation.

“Governor Newsom, please look at Michael’s face and say his name,” Friend said. “Michael was only eight years old and weighed 80 pounds.”

Robert Boyd Rhoades, then 43 years old,  kidnapped, sexually assaulted, tortured and stabbed Michael to death. Evidence included defensive wounds to Michael’s hands, his footprints inside Rhoades’ truck windshield and Michael’s blood on a knife. Rhoades was sentenced to death in 1999. The California Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in 2019.

Michael was not Rhoades’ only murder victim. DNA evidence later linked him to the 1984 rape and murder of 18-year-old Julie Connell. He was convicted and sentenced to death for her murder as well; that sentence was later changed to life without parole.

Friend’s statement describes the devastating contrast between the child she remembers and the final time she saw him. Investigators allowed her to see only his face and one hand. The injuries on his face became an image she would carry forever.

For nearly 30 years, she has also endured court proceedings that repeatedly forced her to confront her child’s murder.

“The justice system asks families to trust the process, but changing the rules decades later shatters that trust completely,” Friend said.

Friend says she went to the Capitol and waited to speak with Newsom but did not get to meet with him. She has sent letters and does not know whether he has read them.

“Sandy has spent nearly 30 years carrying a loss most of us cannot imagine,” said Anne Marie Schubert, CJLF President and CEO. “Before Governor Newsom changes her son’s killer’s sentence, he should sit across from her and listen. A decision affecting hundreds of cases must confront the individual lives taken and the families left behind.”

“Governor Newsom needs to hear Sandy’s plea and look her in the eye before changing her son’s killer’s sentence,” said Topo Padilla, President of Crime Victims United. “Families were asked to trust the justice system through trials, appeals and decades of anguish. Their loved ones deserve more than a blanket decision that sweeps aside individual judgments. Meet with these families. Say their loved ones’ names. Hear what was taken from them.”

Friend, Crime Victims United and CJLF urge the Governor to reject blanket commutation and give affected families a meaningful opportunity to be heard before any clemency decision.

“Michael didn’t get mercy. He didn’t get a second chance, and no one changed his sentence,” Friend said. “Michael deserved a lifetime and I will never let him be forgotten.”

Read Sandy Friend’s full statement here.

About the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation

The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation advocates for victims’ rights and constitutional, effective public safety policies.

About Crime Victims United

Founded in 1990, Crime Victims United is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to supporting crime victims, survivors and their families throughout California.

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