Justices Refuse to Bar Killer’s Parole

In a setback for Gov. Gray Davis, the state Supreme Court refused Wednesday to consider a lower court decision that could free a Calabasas man convicted of killing a schoolmate who exposed him as a homosexual.

In a brief order, the justices declined to review an appellate court decision forcing the state parole board to set a release date for Robert Rosenkrantz. Justice Janice R. Brown dissented.

The court’s action could signal trouble for the governor’s policy of keeping all murderers locked up forever, regardless of their progress in prison or the circumstances of their crime. Since taking office, Davis has blocked parole in all murder cases sent to him for review by the Board of Prison Terms: 16 in 1999 and an unknown number this year. His administration has declined to release that information for 2000.

Attorneys for California prisoners say Davis and the parole board have been unlawfully stingy in releasing suitable inmates. The court’s decision, they say, substantially aids their cause.

“This decision tells parole board members that the courts are looking over their shoulder,” said Donald Specter of the nonprofit Prison Law Office, which defends inmates’ legal rights. “The message is, when a prisoner is rehabilitated he should be released.”

Lawyer Rowan Klein, who represents Rosenkrantz, said the decision also assures prisoners “they can secure relief from the courts when the parole board and the governor do not follow the law.”

A spokesman for the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, which oversees the Board of Prison Terms, said the agency is disappointed not to be able to argue the case. A spokesman for state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, whose office handled the appeal, said no decision has been made on whether to pursue the matter in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Rosenkrantz, 33, was convicted in the 1985 murder of Steven Redman, who exposed him as a homosexual on the night Rosenkrantz graduated from Calabasas High School.

In 1996, Rosenkrantz was found suitable for release by parole board members who concluded that he committed his crime as a result of extreme stress--after being outed to his disapproving father--and would not pose “an unreasonable risk to society” if released.

The parole grant was overturned, however, after an internal review. And at several subsequent parole hearings, Rosenkrantz was rejected as unsuitable for release.

In 1998, he sued, challenging the denials. A year later, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz sided with the inmate, saying there was no evidence that Rosenkrantz remains a danger to society and ordering him paroled.

The state appealed, leading to the April decision by the 2nd District Court of Appeal. In a harshly worded decision, the appellate court essentially threatened parole board members with contempt if they refused to find Rosenkrantz fit for release.

In asking the state Supreme Court to step in, the attorney general’s office argued that it is unlawful for the courts to tell parole board members how to think.

“The court basically told the board, ‘Here’s the outcome you should reach,’ and that’s a separation of powers issue,” said Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for Lockyer.

Last month, the parole board--acting under the appellate court’s threat--cleared Rosenkrantz for release. After an internal review, his case will land in the lap of Davis, who has already blocked his parole once.