Release Bid Denied for Mass Killer

An appeal by Edward Charles Allaway to be released from a psychiatric hospital 27 years after he killed seven people at Cal State Fullerton was rejected Tuesday by the California Supreme Court.

Without comment, the court refused to reverse Orange County Superior Judge Frank F. Fasel, who concluded in a 2001 hearing that Allaway, a janitor on campus at the time of his rampage, was still a danger to society and should not be released. Allaway’s release request was based on arguments that he had recovered from his insanity.

On July 12, 1976, Allaway, a frequent hunter and former Marine, stalked the hallways of the campus library, shooting his victims with a rifle as they hunkered down in offices, ran for their lives or tried to disarm him. He shot nine people, killing seven, before turning himself in to police.

Allaway, now 64, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1977. By law, defendants found insane are committed to a mental institution until they are found sane.

Allaway has been housed at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County.

During the 2001 hearing, Allaway testified that he was sane.

But mental health experts testified that there was no way to tell whether Allaway might suffer the same types of delusions that led him to commit the killings.

In Allaway’s trial, he testified that homosexual men were having sexual liaisons in the library and were plotting to kill him.