Judge Reviews Data in Parole Case

A judge said Thursday he would consider a decade’s worth of parole statistics in deciding whether convicted murderer Robert Rosenkrantz had been improperly denied parole.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Paul Gutman also promised that he would try to resolve the case--which has been bouncing from courtroom to courtroom in the last couple of years--as quickly as possible.

Rosenkrantz was 18 when he shot 17-year-old Calabasas schoolmate Steven Redman to death in 1985, after Redman exposed Rosenkrantz’s homosexuality. He was convicted of second-degree murder, and his attorneys say he felt remorse for his crime and became a model prisoner.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kathryne Stoltz ordered his release, and the parole board complied. But Gov. Gray Davis overruled the board’s decision in October, saying he didn’t believe Rosenkrantz had served enough time given the circumstances of his crime. Rozenkrantz waited for his victim outside Redman’s home for hours before confronting him and shooting him 10 times.

In a lawsuit filed in Van Nuys Superior Court, Rosenkrantz’s lawyers alleged that Davis acted unconstitutionally because he has a blanket “no parole policy” for all convicted murders, which they contend is a violation of due process.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Robert D. Wilson said outside court Thursday that Davis had carefully reviewed Rosenkrantz’s case and given “thoughtful attention to every detail” in deciding to deny him parole.