Tim Conway, Jr. with Fox LA's Gigi Graciette
In 2012, Gigi Graciette's mother's residence in North Hollywood was burglarized.
Gigi was out of town - her mother was in Portugal. The burglar vandalized the house, and stole tens of thousands of dollars worth of cash and jewelry.
A few months after the crime, a man known as Ronald Taylor was identified as the culprit, thanks to DNA left on cigarette butts he had burnt into the wood floor.
And where was it that he turned up?
In prison.
In fact, he was accused of burglarizing two other houses and was a third-striker who had been in and out of prison since he was 16 years old.
In 2013, as the victim in this case, Graciette agreed to a plea deal where two of the new charges against him would be dismissed and in turn he would plead guilty to the burglary and be sentenced to 22 years in prison.
17 of those years would be mandatory with no time off for good behavior, work credits or anything else. She was repeatedly assured that he would serve the complete 17 years.
Now, five years later, they have approved Taylor for early release because of Prop 57, something Gigi never thought would apply to a deal with a victim.
Making it even worse, on May 30th Graciette's mother was robbed and beaten on the streets of Lisbon.
She died three weeks later.
(Graciette pictured with Ronald Regan)
Listen to Gigi's tragic story and what we in California can do to help ensure what happens to her mother never happens again:
Follow Gigi on Facebook at Facebook.com/OfficialGigiGraciette.