Board Bows to Court, OKs Killer’s Parole

The state parole board Friday set a release date for a convicted murderer because a court demanded it and threatened to hold members in contempt if they refused--a first in California history, according to attorneys involved in the case.

The state Board of Prison Terms declared Robert Rosenkrantz of Calabasas suitable for parole 15 years after he murdered a schoolmate who exposed him as a homosexual. Board members said they did so only because an appellate court had demanded it.

The action places the fate of Rosenkrantz, 33, in the hands of Gov. Gray Davis, who should receive the case for review by September. Rosenkrantz has become the poster case for the governor’s public vow to keep all murderers--no matter the circumstances--locked up forever.

Davis has blocked the parole of all convicted killers whose cases have been sent to him for review and already prevented Rosenkrantz’s release once.

The inmate’s attorney, Rowan Klein of Los Angeles, said he believes that the April order by the 2nd District Court of Appeal requires the governor to free his client.

“The court reviewed the record and found there was no evidence” that he remains a danger to society, Klein said. “Still, we all know the governor has said the only way he’ll let anyone out is in a pine box.”

Critics say politics--the fear that a high-profile parolee might commit more crimes--is keeping deserving inmates behind bars and overloading California’s crowded prisons. But advocates for crime victims applaud Davis’ policy.

Asked about the case Friday, the governor said he had not seen the decision and would not comment. Klein said that if Davis blocks Rosenkrantz’s release again, the lawyer will sue the governor, a move sure to be backed by legal groups critical of Davis’ no-parole policy.

The board’s decision came after a four-hour hearing at the California Men’s Colony here, where Rosenkrantz has been a model prisoner--earning a college degree, tutoring other inmates and becoming expert in computer systems--since 1986. Manuel Ortega, chairman of the three-member panel that heard the case, made it clear that the board did not like having its hand forced by the court.

“Had the panel not been limited by . . . the order, the panel would have arrived at a different result,” Ortega said. He added that he has participated in 3,000 parole hearings during his tenure and considers Rosenkrantz’s crime one of the most serious second-degree murders he has reviewed.

Larry Diamond, a deputy district attorney from Los Angeles who prosecuted Rosenkrantz, agreed and called the board’s decision “unprecedented and bizarre.”

“I think it’s dangerous when the judiciary tells people how to think,” said Diamond, who traveled to the hearing to make a 30-minute argument against parole.

Diamond’s presence was remarkable, in part because Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti previously had supported Rosenkrantz’s release. Klein linked the flip-flop to Diamond’s boss’ campaign for reelection.

On hearing he had been found suitable for parole, Rosenkrantz nodded, smiled and let out a deep breath. Earlier, he told the board that he would regret killing Steven Redman for the rest of his life.

“I’m not the high-testosterone 18-year-old I once was,” he said. In prison, he added, he has become “an expert on all the provocations that lead to a negative path” and has “learned to turn the other cheek.”

The victim’s father, Lawrence Redman, did not attend the hearing but sent a letter describing the anguish his son’s death at age 17 had caused his family. Redman said the possibility of Rosenkrantz’s release had rekindled the family’s fear of a man he called “a cold-blooded killer.”

Rosenkrantz was sentenced to 15 years to life for killing Redman after his schoolmate exposed him as a homosexual the night Rosenkrantz graduated from Calabasas High. After eavesdropping on Rosenkrantz’s phone calls with a listening device, Redman broke into the Rosenkrantz family beach house, caught him with another man, took pictures and called him “faggot” during an ensuing fight.

Convinced that his father would disown him over his homosexuality after his schoolmate exposed it, Rosenkrantz fled and confronted Redman, demanding a retraction. When Redman refused, Rosenkrantz shot him 10 times with an Uzi outside Redman’s Malibu condo. After 26 days as a fugitive, he surrendered.

The parole board, whose members are appointed by the governor, is required to set a parole date unless an inmate’s release would pose unreasonable danger to the public. Friday marked the second time Rosenkrantz has been found suitable for parole. In 1996, another three-member panel found that extreme stress caused the crime and that he was no longer a threat.

That finding was overturned after an internal board review. And at several subsequent hearings, board members have continually rejected Rosenkrantz’s release despite favorable prison psychiatric reports and numerous letters of support.

In 1998, Rosenkrantz sued the board, leading to the April decision by the appellate court. In a strongly worded decision, the court said that all of the evidence refuted the board’s position that Rosenkrantz was a threat to public safety.

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Times staff writer Carl Ingram and researcher Patti Williams contributed to this story.