Death Penalty Option Removed in Calabasas Case

An 18-year-old Calabasas youth charged with murdering a 17-year-old schoolmate no longer faces the death penalty because prosecutors have decided to drop allegations that he shot the victim from ambush.

Robert M. Rosenkrantz pleaded not guilty Tuesday to one count of murder after prosecutors dropped the charge of “lying in wait” in connection with the June 28 shooting death of Steven Redman, 17, also of Calabasas. Van Nuys Superior Court Judge James A. Albracht scheduled a Nov. 1 conference to set Rosenkrantz’s trial date.

Could Be Out in 13 Years

Under California law, a person convicted of murder with “special circumstances,” such as lying in wait to commit the crime, can be sentenced to death, or life in prison without possibility of parole.

The maximum sentence to which Rosenkrantz now could be sentenced if convicted is 25 years to life for murder, plus two years for use of a gun, said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert L. Cohen. With credit for good behavior and work, Rosenkrantz could be released in 13 years, Cohen said.

The victim’s mother, Barbara Redman, said she was heartbroken by the district attorney’s decision. “I feel as though I’ve just been punched in the stomach,” Redman said in a telephone interview. “I think it’s terrible.”

Citing reports by witnesses that Rosenkrantz sat in his car near the Redman family home for several hours before the killing, Redman asked: “If that’s not considered lying in wait, then what is?”

Mike Carroll, head deputy of the Van Nuys branch of the district attorney’s office, said he decided to drop the lying in wait allegation because witnesses said that Rosenkrantz’s car was not hidden from view. Witnesses also said that Rosenkrantz blocked Redman’s car with his own car, and confronted Redman before opening fire.

Age a Factor in Decision

“Lying in wait as a general rule requires a finding that the perpetrator must be in ambush, or concealment for the purpose of taking his victim unawares,” Carroll said. In 1956, the California Supreme Court defined lying in wait as waiting, watching and concealment, he said.

Other factors in the decision not to press for the death penalty included Rosenkrantz’s age and the absence of a criminal record, he said.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Rosenkrantz’s attorney, Jack Stone, asked the judge to transfer Rosenkrantz from his one-man cell in the Los Angeles County Jail’s “high-power” section, for notorious or dangerous prisoners, to the jail at the Hall of Justice. The latter lockup is used to house homosexuals and other special prisoners.

Supports Transfer

Albracht said he would recommend to the Sheriff’s Department, which has custody of county prisoners, that the transfer be made.

A week before the killing, Redman and his best friend, Rosenkrantz’s 17-year-old brother, Joey, apparently surprised Robert Rosenkrantz in a homosexual encounter at the Rosenkrantz family’s Hermosa Beach beach house the night of Robert Rosenkrantz’s high school graduation. The youths later told Rosenkrantz’s parents.

On June 28, apparently in retaliation, Rosenkrantz allegedly blocked the path of Redman’s car with his own car on Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas and shot him nine times with an Uzi semi-automatic rifle.

After the slaying, Rosenkrantz fled to Stockton, where he hid for nearly a month. He surrendered on July 23 at the urging of his two attorneys and a psychiatrist.