Davis’ Parole Denial Illegal, Judge Rules

A Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that Gov. Gray Davis is unlawfully denying parole to eligible murder convicts, including a Calabasas man whom the court ordered immediately set free.

Although not binding on courts statewide, the ruling represents a sharp rebuke to the governor and could influence the fate of hundreds of California prisoners who say they have no hope for parole--no matter how well they do behind bars or how much community support they have--because Davis is biased against them.

More immediately, the decision by Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Paul Gutman is a significant victory for Robert Rosenkrantz, 34, a convicted killer who has waged a long battle to win parole. The judge concluded that Davis produced no evidence that Rosenkrantz represents a continued threat to society and ordered Rosenkrantz freed immediately. His long-sought release, however, was delayed again to give the state time to appeal that ruling.

“I’m almost speechless,” Donald Specter, an attorney for Rosenkrantz, said. “The court has said the governor has an unconstitutional no-parole policy and that prisoners can’t get a fair hearing before him.”

But as Specter pressed the state Department of Corrections to release his client from the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, the attorney general’s office was preparing to ask the 2nd District Court of Appeal to stay Gutman’s order while an appeal is prepared. Barry Goode, the governor’s legal affairs secretary, said in a statement that the court was wrong in finding that Davis has a “no-parole policy.”

“Gov. Davis gives each case careful scrutiny,” Goode said. “He determines each on its own merits and will continue to do so.”

Convicted of the 1985 killing of a schoolmate who exposed him as a homosexual, Rosenkrantz has been the leading example cited by critics of the governor, who note that Davis has rejected parole for every eligible murderer--except one--whose case has come before him.

Barbara Rosenkrantz, the inmate’s mother, said she and her husband, Herbert, hope their son will soon return to the family home in the Calabasas hills. But she added, “Things have changed so many times, I’m afraid to be optimistic.”

Indeed, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections said prison officials would not begin processing Rosenkrantz for release until the request for a stay is decided. Specter said he will ask Gutman to find state officials in contempt of court if they do not move promptly to free Rosenkrantz.

Shortly after his election, Davis said that when it comes to murderers, he does not believe in redemption: “If you take someone else’s life, forget it,” he told The Times, adding that extenuating circumstances--an abusive husband shot by a battered wife, for example--would not affect his view.

Davis’ aides have since backpedaled, saying the comment was merely an expression of his philosophy.

But Judge Gutman, in a 25-page ruling, said Davis’ record on parole shows he meant what he said. In blocking parole in all but one of the cases sent to him for final review by the Board of Prison Terms, the governor has demonstrated “prejudgment of all murder cases,” thereby depriving Rosenkrantz “of his right to an impartial decision maker.”

The governor’s policy is unconstitutional, Gutman concluded, and amounts to “actual bias against an entire class of cases.”

Peter Keane, dean of Golden Gate University Law School, said Davis “made the case against himself” by “so blatantly refusing to allow anyone to be paroled, even though the law allows for it.”

“I hope Gray Davis learns that we do not have a totalitarian form of government in California, and that the governor cannot just amend laws made by the Legislature . . . because he wants to look tough on crime,” Keane said.

But Maggie Elvey, a spokeswoman for Crime Victims United, applauded Davis’ record on parole and called Thursday’s decision “appalling.”

“It’s a sad day,” Elvey said. “We appreciate Gov. Davis’ concern for victims and are amazed that people like [Rosenkrantz] can be on the streets again after doing brutal crimes.”

Under California’s system, the Board of Prison Terms, appointed by the governor, considers parole for about 21,000 inmates serving “indeterminate” sentences for murder, kidnapping and other serious crimes. Davis has authority to block the board’s parole grants for murderers, but must decide each case on its merits.

Since Davis took office, the board has held 4,800 parole suitability hearings and granted parole to 48 inmates. Davis has rejected all but one. Rose Ann Parker was freed last year after the governor concluded that she feared for her life when she killed her abusive boyfriend.

The Rosenkrantz case has attracted widespread attention in part because of underlying factors, including the exposure of Rosenkrantz’s homosexuality by his victim, Steven Redman, 17.

A high school senior of 18, Rosenkrantz was at his family’s beach house on graduation night when Redman entered the home, called Rosenkrantz by a charged epithet and broke his nose during an ensuing fight.

Fearful that his father would disown him after learning of his sexual orientation, Rosenkrantz fled and later confronted Redman, demanding that he retract the statement. When Redman refused, Rosenkrantz shot him 10 times with an Uzi submachine gun outside his Malibu condominium.

Sentenced to 17 years, Rosenkrantz has tutored other inmates, earned college degrees and maintained a spotless disciplinary record behind bars. Prison psychiatrists say the risk that he will commit more crimes upon release is very low.

Numerous legislators have lobbied for his release, as have the Superior Court judge who presided over his trial and one of the detectives who investigated the crime.

Recently, his case has bounced like a pinball around the state judicial system. In 1999, a Superior Court judge ordered Rosenkrantz released after finding that the parole board had abused its discretion in denying him freedom. An appellate court upheld the ruling, and the parole board reluctantly set a parole date.

That bumped the case to Davis, who in October blocked his release, saying Rosenkrantz still poses “a significant risk of danger to society.” Rosenkrantz sued, leading to Thursday’s decision.

In concluding that Davis failed to provide Rosenkrantz an impartial evaluation, Gutman said: “There is a total absence of evidence in the record supporting the governor’s opinion that [Rosenkrantz] represents a ‘continued threat to the public.’ While the governor is entitled to express his opinion, the opinion itself must be factually supported, and it is not.”

In Calabasas, meanwhile, Barbara Rosenkrantz made her son’s bed and hoped for the best.

“He’s got new linens,” she said. “We’ve had so many disappointments. Robert’s a good kid. He’s worth the fight.”

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Times staff writer Caitlin Liu contributed to this story.