Mass Killer Too Dangerous to Be Freed From Mental Hospital, Judge Rules
Edward Charles Allaway, a janitor who killed seven people in a 1976 shooting rampage at Cal State Fullerton, is too dangerous to be released from a state mental hospital, an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Friday.
“I believe that the defendant is a danger to himself and others at this time,” said Judge Donald A. McCartin in denying Allaway’s petition to be placed in an outpatient therapy program, the first step toward freedom.
Despite his ruling, McCartin offered Allaway hope. McCartin said he was “on the brink of finding that he should go” to a conditional release program.
McCartin did agree to transfer Allaway, 53, to Napa State Hospital, which is a less restrictive environment then Atascadero State Hospital, where he is currently housed.
Allaway has been held in a state mental hospital since he was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the 1976 shooting rampage--the worst mass murder in Orange County history.
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