When Boulder Creek resident Colter White and his attorney, Ben Rice, walked into the hearing that would determine his fate this week, the odds were against them.
“Ninety-nine out of 100 times, the commissioner sends people back to prison,” said Rice, who represented White pro bono after he was arrested for alleged assault last month. “But the commissioner said the support for Colter was like nothing he’d seen before — he never saw a file so fat with letters.”
That support proved vital. At the hearing Wednesday, Oct. 21, the parole commissioner dismissed all charges against White, leaving him free to return home after spending more than a month behind bars.
White is an ex-con who has a criminal history of drugs and fighting and was two months from completing his parole when a man from Narcotics Anonymous accused him of threatening and assaulting him.
White’s girlfriend, Courtney Morse, picked him up that afternoon and took him straight to his mother, Rice said.
The verdict prompted relief among his family, peers and others in the community who rallied fiercely for his release.
“It was so nerve-racking,” his mother, Nancy Nieblas, said of the wait for the verdict. “I was shaking inside.”
Classmate and friend Jackie Gollbach of Ben Lomond could not contain her happiness.
“We did it,” she said, her voice bursting with excitement. “Colter White is free!”
White, a 38-year-old Cabrillo College honors student, faced up to a year in prison. Sheriff’s deputies arrested White in Live Oak on Sept. 18 after he went to authorities when he heard about the accusation. The district attorney’s office declined to file charges against White, but the accusation and arrest were enough to send him to state prison for parole violation.
Rice subpoenaed seven witnesses for this week’s hearing, but only three spoke, he said. The witnesses called to testify against the accuser were enough to convince the commissioner.
Cabrillo College President Brian King and Dan Rothwell, communication studies program chairman at the college, were called to speak about White’s community achievements as character witnesses because of their local clout, Rice said.
Nearly 60 people spoke about what White has done for the community and their lives during a video shot at Cabrillo late last month. The video was meant to be screened at the hearing.
“But the commissioner said he didn’t need to watch the video or hear from the character witnesses,” Rice said.
At one point during the trial, Rice said, the commissioner asked whether White would agree to a lesser charge of disturbing the peace.
“But I said ‘Colter isn’t guilty of anything,’” Rice said. “Colter was then asked to testify, and he spoke clearly, calmly and articulately.”
Rice said White’s accuser was cross-examined for about 30 minutes, and he admitted to having a history of mental health issues.
“I had witnesses who testified that the accuser said he wanted to put Colter back in prison,” Rice said.
White’s arrest sparked a crusade for his freedom that amplified week by week until his release.
Former state Assemblymen John Laird and Fred Keeley, Santa Cruz County treasurer, submitted letters on White’s behalf. Assemblyman Bill Monning, D-Carmel, who also wrote a letter, spoke at Cabrillo College on Oct. 8 about White’s plight and prison reform in general.
A rally Friday, Oct. 16, drew nearly 200 people who marched for White and protested the state’s prison budget.
A welcome-home rally for White on Thursday, Oct. 22, at Cabrillo College was attended by many who fought for his release.
White will complete his parole in early February.
“What saddens me is that for every Colter White who gets this kind of deserved break, there are at least 100 other guys who deserve it and don’t get it,” Rice said.
