Cambodian who killed as teen, faces deportation seeks pardon
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — By his own account, Borey Ai was a 14-year-old gangster when he killed a woman during a robbery that netted about $300.
He spent 19 years in prison before parole officials decided he had turned his life around. He walked out of San Quentin prison in November 2016 and into the custody of waiting federal immigration agents.
Ai is now 37 and asking California Gov. Jerry Brown to wipe away his criminal conviction and likely prevent his deportation to Cambodia, a nation where his mother was born but he has never seen. After prison, he spent 18 months in federal detention but was freed in May after Cambodia refused to accept him — for now.
Parole officials recommended a pardon for Ai last week. Dozens of advocates turned in more than 36,000 signatures Wednesday asking Brown to pardon Ai and others before he leaves office in January.