Proposition 47 impact being felt in Tulare County

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Tulare County district attorney's office is being inundated with petitions from convicted felons asking to be resentenced. It's all part of the impact from proposition 47 passed during the November election.

59 percent of California voters passed proposition 47 in November changing many non-violent felony crimes into misdemeanors.

Tulare County Assistant District Attorney Dan Underwood says he doesn't think voters understood the full impact of a yes vote.

Underwood said, "I think what we're going to see is that these offenses weren't necessarily that low level that we needed to see all of them out of custody at the same time."

The district attorney's office has been busy receiving hundreds of petitions from convicted felons asking to be re-sentenced under the new law. The law includes crimes like drug possession and property theft under $950.

Underwood added, "It is a huge game changer tectonic shift in criminal law of California."

In 2013 the Tulare County district attorney's office filed at least 2,000 felony cases. Underwood says 35 percent of those crimes are now considered misdemeanors.

Many of the people already convicted of felonies have already been released. At the jail, Sheriff Mike Boudreaux says inmate population has dropped.

Sheriff Boudreaux said, "I'm not sure if that's because of prop 47 but I know there are strong indications that that is a part of prop 47."

The district attorney says a majority of the people being released under the new law are career criminals.

Underwood added, "I'm not sure everyone understood when they were voting how many offenders with lengthy histories are going to be eligible under this statute."

Underwood suspects petitions will start slowing down in the next few weeks. There have already been three days of re-sentencing hearings at the courthouse with many more expected to come.