Allaway, Killer of 7 at Cal State, Claims Remorse, Wants Out

Edward Charles Allaway, who killed seven people in a 1976 shooting spree at Cal State Fullerton, told a judge Thursday that he feels “deep remorse” for their deaths but that 10 years of therapy has helped him recover from his mental illness, so he wants to return to society.

Allaway, now 48, has been at Atascadero State Hospital, a maximum-security facility, since a judge found him insane at his murder trial in 1977. He is petitioning the court for release to an outpatient therapy program.

Despite statements by many psychiatrists and psychologists that he is not ready to be returned to society, Allaway testified in Orange County Superior Court that “it’s not fair to keep me locked up.”

“I am no longer mentally ill, in the sense (that) I’m not a danger to myself or to others,” Allaway said.

He testified for more than two hours in a standing-room-only courtroom, where the spectators included the news media, lawyers and several family members of some of Allaway’s victims--many of whom glared at him.

When Allaway said many people suffer degrees of mental illness yet function in society successfully, it was too much for Patricia Almazan, whose father was one of Allaway’s victims.

“Yes, but they don’t kill a bunch of people!” she blurted out, her voice shaking.

Judge Donald A. McCartin scolded her for her outburst but did not order her removed.

Allaway said a decision on whether to release him should be based on how well he is recovering from mental illness--not the nature of his crime.

“What brought me here (to Atascadero) is what’s keeping me here,” he said.

Allaway, who had been in a mental institution for a short time eight years before the killings, testified that he had been in a state of depression all of his life up to the killings.

He was a library janitor at the university when, on July 12, 1976, he shot nine people at the library, killing seven of them. Allaway said he had thought people were conspiring against him.

When he first arrived at Atascadero after his trial, he said: “I wasn’t able to communicate, I couldn’t put two sentences together. I stuttered. I was not able to socialize or even understand what socializing meant. I lived just for the moment.”

But thanks to several years of therapy, Allaway said, he has come to understand the delusional thinking that led him to take seven lives.

“I feel really deeply sorry for my crime,” Allaway said. “That does not represent my life, though that’s all I’ve been known for since then.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin G. Engquist asked Allaway why he has stopped participating in therapy programs at Atascadero. Allaway answered that much of the therapy is repetitive and can no longer help him.

Allaway said he is in a Catch-22 situation, that he has done well in Atascadero’s programs, but that those programs are all geared toward eventual release into society.

“It’s a shame that’s being denied me,” he said.

Advancement to outpatient therapy, he said, “is what everybody (Atascadero patients) strive for; this is why you put yourself back together.”

“Are you mentally ill--yes or no?” Engquist asked.

“I could go further in the treatment,” Allaway answered.

Engquist asked the same question again. Allaway answered that just because a person might always have some degree of mental illness--just like an alcoholic will always be an alcoholic--it’s “not a reason to keep a person locked up.”

Engquist then asked Allaway when he ceased to be mentally ill. Allaway answered that he has been ready for release for four or five years.

Reports from doctors at Atascadero show that Allaway, at best, should be transferred to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County, which could be regarded as a transitional step toward Allaway’s eventual release.

Robert L. White, a psychologist called by Allaway’s attorney, also recommended Patton. But White stressed that Allaway still suffers mental illness--still is defensive, and minimizes his own shortcomings--and would be a risk if sent into an outpatient community program.

Allaway’s lawyer, Douglas E. Coggins of Santa Ana, has said that a court order transferring Allaway to Patton may be the best that Allaway could hope for as a result of this hearing.

But Allaway told prosecutor Engquist that he does not want to go to Patton.

“I consider myself of a level where I should continue treatment on the outside,” Allaway contended.

Patton, Allaway insisted, is not the answer.

“The emphasis is on keeping me confined,” Allaway said, adding that the emphasis should be on mental health.

But Engquist said after the hearing ended for the day that it’s clear that if Allaway is transferred to Patton, he is not going to participate in treatment programs there, since he has stopped participating at Atascadero.

“He just wants out,” Engquist said. “ ‘I’m sorry about all those people dying,’ he’s saying, ‘But I want out.’ ”

Allaway’s hearing is scheduled to continue Monday.