A prisoner convicted in 2005 for an Orinda burglary is the first person in Contra Costa County to have their sentence reduced under a 2019 state law allowing a district attorney to recommend a prisoner be resentenced.

Derric Craig Lewis, 61, was convicted of residential burglary and sentenced to 27 years in prison. That sentence was revised on April 16, when the Contra Costa County Superior Court reduced it to 17 years — the time he had already served.

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Joe Dworetzky is a second career journalist. He practiced law in Philadelphia for more than 35 years, representing private and governmental clients in commercial litigation and insolvency proceedings. Joe served as City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia under Mayor Ed Rendell and from 2009 to 2013 was one of five members of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission with responsibility for managing the city’s 250 public schools. He moved to San Francisco in 2011 and began writing fiction and pursuing a lifelong interest in editorial cartooning. Joe earned a Master’s in Journalism from Stanford University in 2020. He covers Legal Affairs and writes long form Investigative stories. His occasional cartooning can be seen in Bay Area Sketchbook. Joe encourages readers to email him story ideas and leads at joe.dworetzky@baycitynews.com.