Gov. Paroles Second Killer

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed Wednesday to parole a woman who killed her husband’s mistress in 1987 -- marking the second case in a week in which the newly elected governor has granted parole to a convicted murderer and a notable departure from the policy of his predecessor, Gray Davis.

One of the hallmarks of Davis’ five years as governor was his repeated refusal to grant paroles approved by the state’s Board of Prison Terms.

Of 294 paroles agreed to by the board in murder cases, Davis blocked all but eight, following his professed belief that extenuating circumstances should not be used to justify homicide. He twice rejected parole for Rosario Munoz, the woman Schwarzenegger has now agreed to free.

Shortly after his election, Davis said in an interview with The Times that he did not believe in redemption in murder cases.

“If you take someone else’s life, forget it,” he said. Aides later denied that Davis’ statements expressed a firm policy, but in at least one case a state judge found that Davis had adopted an illegal blanket policy of denying parole in all murder cases.

Schwarzenegger, by contrast, appears to be taking a more liberal stance and providing an early indication of his overall attitude toward criminal justice issues.

Although Davis waited two years to approve a parole, Schwarzenegger’s first such action came last Thursday, three days after he took office. That case involved a Sacramento man convicted of a 1985 murder. At the same time, the governor denied parole for a Visalia man who killed a woman while driving drunk in 1986.

Aides to Schwarzenegger have also said the governor is considering cuts in the state prison budget, which Davis protected against reductions.

“Schwarzenegger said he was going to be an economic conservative and a social moderate,” said Dan Schnur, a Republican political consultant with close ties to the new administration. “Most self-described moderates would agree that some convicts are deserving of parole.”

The governor seems more willing than Davis to chance being blamed if a parolee commits another crime, Schnur said.

“There’s some risk every time a governor grants parole,” he said. “But as Gray Davis discovered, there can be a political risk in appearing too rigid and doctrinaire by rejecting every parole recommendation.”

Under state law, the board makes decisions on paroles, but the governor has the power to reject those. The governor received that authority in 1988 under a ballot initiative pushed by then-Gov. George Deukmejian. California is one of only three states that give governors the power to veto parole decisions.

Schwarzenegger made no comment on the decision to parole Munoz, a 51-year-old mother of three who was convicted in 1989 of killing her husband’s lover in Los Angeles.

“There were no issues in dispute on this case, so the recommendation from the Board of Prison Terms will stand,” said Schwarzenegger spokesman Vince Sollitto.

An illegal immigrant from Mexico, Munoz may be paroled to that country. She told the board that she planned to live with her sisters there and work as a graphic designer or in a restaurant.

Schwarzenegger’s decision to free Munoz cheered inmate advocates, who hope that it points to a more positive future for the thousands of murderers, rapists and kidnappers whose fates the parole board weighs each year.

“The fact that [Schwarzenegger] has some confidence in the system and the way it’s set up, that gives me hope,” said Cheryl Montgomery, an attorney who has represented hundreds of inmates before the parole board.

Davis’ policy “was a huge, huge breakdown in the system and an incredible waste to the taxpayer to be paying for this whole process that got nixed at the final step,” she said.

The parole board had voted in both January and July 2002 to free Munoz after receiving testimony from her husband, Felix Munoz, that he had abused his wife “in every conceivable way.”

In rejecting parole the second time, in November 2002, Davis wrote that “given the gravity of the crime, I believe Ms. Munoz has not served sufficient time in prison and continues to pose too great a risk to public safety.”

After a hearing in July, the parole board again moved to free Munoz, declaring that her crime was committed “during a brief period of extreme mental and emotional trauma.”

The board’s decision was based on Munoz’s apparent remorse for the killing, psychological evaluations that showed a very slim chance of her offending again and her efforts to raise money for the victim’s daughter by selling portraits, said board spokesman Bill Sessa. While in prison, Munoz learned to paint portraits and speak English.

“I think that one of the more unusual aspects of her case that showed us that she had moved on and matured as a person is that there was a child that was left without a mother as a result of the crime,” Sessa said. “She has provided financial support for that child the entire time she was in prison.”

The shooting occurred Sept. 7, 1987, at the apartment complex of the victim, Julia De La Cruz, 28. Munoz had gone to the apartment after spending several hours at a park with her husband and their children. According to testimony, Felix Munoz had forced his wife to drink several beers at the park then dropped her and the children off at the clothing factory in downtown L.A. that the couple owned.

After sewing for an hour or so, Rosario Munoz left the children, took the loaded gun they kept at the factory and caught a bus to De La Cruz’s apartment, according to her statement to the parole board. She confronted her husband and his mistress as the two drove up in his van with De La Cruz’s 14-month-old daughter between them.

“When I saw the car approaching, I saw them laughing and with the beers in the hand,” Munoz told the parole board. “And I remember my family, my children living in fear all the time. And I remembered the time that my husband beat on my boy in front of me.”

Munoz opened the van door and fired more than once, killing De La Cruz. One of the bullets grazed the child’s arm.

Convicted of second-degree murder, Munoz was sentenced to 15 years to life.

Her daughter and sister testified to the parole board that Felix drank excessively and frequently beat his wife and the children. Felix testified that his wife worked long hours besides caring for their children. He made no secret of his longtime relationship with De La Cruz, who had been a live-in baby-sitter for the family.

Munoz told the parole board that she once left her husband and went to Mexico but that her father forced her to return.

“Rosario did not deserve the nightmarish life I gave her anymore than Julia deserved to die,” Felix Munoz wrote to the parole board in 2001.