Mistake Frees Slaying Suspect

A man suspected of slashing a painting contractor to death in Beverly Hills was mistakenly released from jail Saturday but rearrested Tuesday morning after his sister arrived at Beverly Hills City Hall to reclaim her brother’s impounded car.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials, already under fire over their administration of the county’s troubled jail system, said it appears that state corrections officials inadvertently lifted a parole hold on Nathan Hall, 50.

Deputies released Hall from the Men’s Central Jail on Saturday morning, apparently unaware he was being held without bail. Ivory Roberts, regional administrator for the state Department of Corrections, said officials had not concluded which agency erred.

Hall was scheduled to appear with his defense attorney, Christopher Darden, Tuesday morning at Los Angeles County Superior Court to answer charges in the case. He is suspected of killing Jurgen Hapke, 65, and attacking Hapke’s partner while they were painting the exterior of a Well’s Fargo Bank branch on Wilshire Boulevard on Dec. 14.

It was the first homicide in Beverly Hills in four years, and the motive remains a mystery. Police said Hall got out of his car and started stabbing the men.

But the hearing took a dramatic twist when Superior Court Judge Elden Fox announced that Hall had been released from custody.

Half an hour later, Hall’s sister appeared at the front counter of the Beverly Hills Police Department station asking for Hall’s car, which the detectives had impounded.

Officers denied her request and then followed her to the parking garage, where Hall was standing. They arrested him.

Hapke’s stepson, Brent Turnham, 32, said he was outraged that his family was not notified about Hall’s release until he showed up in court to attend the arraignment.

“This put my whole family and society in jeopardy,” Turnham said outside court. “You can’t release a felon on a no-bail hold under those circumstances. If someone had come across him on the street, who knows what the outcome could have been. This is our system?”

Police and prosecutors also expressed surprise that they were not notified about the release until Tuesday.

“This is one of the most unusual sets of events I can ever recall,” said Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mitch McCann.

Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, said prosecutors were not aware that the parole hold on Hall was lifted.

Police first arrested Hall at his home in South Los Angeles on Dec. 22. Hall does not appear to have any connection to the victims, but detectives aren’t sure if the attack was random.

Authorities had delayed charging him in order to gather more evidence so Hall had been kept in jail on suspicion of violating his parole from a previous crime. So when the parole hold was lifted Saturday, Hall was able to leave the jail because there were no criminal charges pending.

“The good news is that Hall is in custody,” said sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore. “We did everything within our power to keep him in jail. But we had to release him because there was no criminal charge pending against him and there was no authority telling us to hold him.”

The number of inmates escaping from Sheriff’s Department custody has doubled over the last two years and seven inmates have been killed in the jails during that time, prompting the county to pay hefty settlements to some of the families.

After his arrest Tuesday, Hall was returned to court where he pleaded not guilty in Hapke’s slaying.

Darden, Hall’s defense attorney, left court without comment. Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph Marcus would only say that more details would come out during the preliminary hearing set for Feb. 28.