Officials Vow to Fight Bid to Place Ax Rapist in San Diego County

City and county officials vowed Friday to fight any move to release paroled rapist Lawrence Singleton here.

San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor and Police Chief William Kolender sent a letter to state corrections officials stating firmly that the City of San Diego would not permit Singleton to be paroled here and questioning whether someone who committed a crime “too heinous for any rational human being to comprehend” should have been granted a parole in the first place.

At the same time, however, Contra Costa County launched a new legal maneuver designed to get Singleton moved here.

Papers served against San Diego County added the city to the list of defendants in a Contra Costa County lawsuit seeking to prevent Singleton--who served time for raping and mutilating a 15-year-old girl--from being placed in that Bay Area county. The action followed an invitation by the Court of Appeal for arguments on whether Singleton should be paroled to San Diego County, where he was tried on a change of venue in 1979.

Oppose Move

San Diego County Counsel Lloyd Harmon said that his office, in collaboration with the district attorney, will oppose Singleton’s placement here.

Because of pretrial publicity, Singleton’s trial was moved to San Diego from Stanislaus County, where Singleton raped a hitchhiker, cut off both her forearms with an ax and left her to die along a rural road. However, the teen-ager, Mary Vincent, lived to testify against Singleton, who was found guilty and received a 15-year sentence for his crimes.

Singleton was released on parole a week ago after serving eight years of his sentence, which was reduced when he was given credit for time in work and education programs.

State Corrections Department officials have been unable to find a jurisdiction that will accept him, and Singleton, under 24-hour guard by parole officers, has been moved from one Northern California community to another.

Named in Suit

Contra Costa County Counsel Vic Westman said Friday that San Diego County was named in the Contra Costa suit because San Diego was the “place of commitment” from which Singleton was sent to prison, and a parolee usually is returned to the county of commitment.

But San Diego County Counsel Harmon said that such a contention--if found valid by the court--would put an end to present change-of-venue procedures.

“No county would accept a change-of-venue trial if it meant the risk of having to harbor the criminal at a later date,” Harmon said.

Corrections Department spokesman Bob Gore said that San Diego County has not been considered as a parole site for Singleton but that this did not rule out San Diego’s consideration in the future.

In San Diego, public outcry against the possibility of Singleton’s parole to the area swamped city and county government offices.

Nancy Allen, executive aide to county Supervisor John MacDonald, said that many North County constituents had made “rather rude” suggestions on where the paroled rapist should be sent.

Aired Opinions

“Most of them I couldn’t repeat,” she said, adding that no caller favored Singleton’s placement in San Diego County.

MacDonald will introduce a resolution before the Board of Supervisors Tuesday to grant Board Chairman Brian Bilbray and County Administrator Norman Hickey the right to act to protect the county if necessary against any attempt to bring the paroled rapist here.