One man convicted in a molestation case will be freed from prison immediately, and a second man will have molestation charges against him dropped.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles McGrath granted a request by attorney Wendy Lascher on Thursday that Al Rosen be immediately released from Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga.
Just a year ago, McGrath had sentenced Rosen, 76, to prison for anywhere from a year to life for repeatedly molesting his daughter between 1966 and 1971.
Prosecutors were able to convict Rosen, a former member of the Ventura County Board of Education, of nine counts of child molestation thanks to a 1994 California law that allowed them to pursue decades-old sex abuse cases previously blocked by the statute of limitations.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on June 26 that the law is unconstitutional.
"Mr. Rosen is only one of many people whose convictions have to be reversed" because of the Supreme Court's decision, Lascher said following Thursday's short hearing.
Judge James Cloninger, meanwhile, agreed to drop charges against Fidencio Simon Silva. Silva is accused of 25 counts of molestation involving eight victims, ages 11 to 15, while he was associate pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Oxnard. He faced up to 50 years in prison if convicted.
Lisa Lyytikainen, supervisor of the sexual assault unit at the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, said Thursday prosecutors asked Cloninger to dismiss the charges against Silva, again because of the Supreme Court's decision last week.
Prosecutors also did not contest Lascher's request that Rosen be set free.
