City, County Resume Fight After Setback : Governor’s Help Sought in Singleton Release

San Diego city and county officials continued behind-the-scenes lobbying Monday to prevent paroled rapist Lawrence Singleton from being sent here after a state appellate court Friday gave state corrections officials free rein to place the unwanted parolee wherever they decide is best.

Paul Downey, spokesman for Mayor Maureen O’Connor, said attempts to reach Gov. George Deukmejian were unsuccessful Monday. Deukmejian, who is attending a governors’ conference in Arizona, will be asked to intervene to send Singleton somewhere that he has family and friends and not to San Diego, where he has no ties.

Singleton, 59, was tried in San Diego County in 1979 on a change of venue from Stanislaus County, where he raped a teen-ager, cut off her forearms and left her for dead.

Law Points to San Diego

Legal attempts by Contra Costa County and San Francisco officials to prevent Singleton from being paroled to their jurisdictions brought San Diego County into consideration. Contra Costa County named San Diego as a defendant in its attempt to restrain the state Department of Corrections from sending Singleton there, claiming that state law requires parole to the county from which the criminal was committed.

On Friday, the state 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco overturned court orders barring Singleton’s release to the two Northern California counties, but the court said San Diego County must be the first parole site considered because Singleton was tried and sentenced here.

San Diego law enforcement officials said late Monday that they have received no word from corrections officials on Singleton’s placement. Because the parolee must be registered as a sex offender in the jurisdiction where he is paroled, law enforcement officials will probably be the first to learn of Singleton’s parole site, Ron Johnson, chief deputy city attorney, said.

Johnson said the city will not seek an injunction against Singleton’s placement here, as O’Connor had announced Friday, because such actions by Contra Costa and San Francisco have been turned down by the Court of Appeal. However, Johnson stressed, “We are monitoring the progress of those two actions and stand ready to act if necessary.”

He said that, if the state decides to send Singleton here, the city may go to court.

San Francisco attorneys late Monday asked the state Supreme Court to overturn Friday’s appellate ruling.

Corrections spokesman Bob Gore said a decision on where to parole Singleton is expected this week. In the meantime, the parolee is being lodged in motels and guarded by three state parole agents around the clock.