Court Suggests Paroled Rapist Be Released in San Diego Area

A state Court of Appeal suggested Thursday that paroled rapist Lawrence Singleton, who has been barred by court order from two Northern California counties, might be released in San Diego County, where he was tried eight years ago on a change of venue.

In a letter to parties in a historic lawsuit over whether local jurisdictions have the right to veto a parole decision by the state Department of Corrections, the appellate court invited arguments on whether Singleton should be placed in San Diego as his “county of commitment.”

However, Deputy Atty. Gen. Morris Lenk, representing the Department of Corrections, said he would oppose locating Singleton anywhere in Southern California, because he has never lived there and has no family ties in the area. Such concerns are important factors in helping prevent a parolee from returning to a life of crime.

Singleton was released from prison Saturday after serving less than eight years of a 14-year sentence for kidnaping and raping a 15-year-old girl and chopping off her forearms with an ax. She survived. The crime took place in Stanislaus County but the trial was moved to San Diego County because of pretrial publicity.

Singleton’s parole to Northern California has prompted outrage throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and has resulted in three court orders--the most recent on Thursday--aimed at banning him from specific communities.

Because of the protests, the search for a parole site for Singleton will last at least another two weeks and an out-of-state placement is possible, Department of Corrections spokesman Robert Gore said. Singleton already has been rejected by Florida authorities for parole there.

Initial plans to place Singleton in Contra Costa County resulted in a suit that blocked his parole there. Then, another judge, responding to a suit by San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, barred the department from placing Singleton in San Francisco. Both court orders are on appeal.

On Thursday, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Harlan Veal, acting at the request of the Board of Supervisors, ordered the Department of Corrections to give the sheriff there 24 hours notice if it plans to place Singleton in the county even for a short time. Singleton spent part of the day there Wednesday, but the Department of Corrections maintains that it has no specific plans to release him there.

Also on Thursday, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and the Napa City Council began planning legal maneuvers to keep Singleton from being paroled in their communities.

Response to Suits

The complex question of a possible placement in the San Diego area was raised as part of the appeal of the Contra Costa and San Francisco suits Thursday when the court sent a letter to attorneys involved in Singleton’s parole, asking for an analysis of the law by which parolees are placed. The attorneys must respond in writing by Monday.

In the letter, the court noted that Singleton’s “county of commitment” appeared to be San Diego, where he was tried in 1979. And under the law, the Department of Corrections generally places parolees in the county that committed them.

“From the face of the language of the statute, it would appear that San Diego County may have been the place that he should have initially been commited to. But the department does not agree with that reading,” Lenk said.