Authorities Were Not Told About Suspect’s Release

The state board of parole determined a week ago that a man accused of killing a painter in Beverly Hills should be released from jail, but neither prosecutors nor police were aware of the decision.

The apparent miscommunication is at the center of reviews by several agencies into why Nathan Hall was allowed to walk out of the Men’s Central Jail on Saturday morning.

He was released despite being detained on a no-bail parole hold and with an arraignment on murder charges scheduled for the following Tuesday. Hall was recaptured Tuesday when his sister went to the Beverly Hills Police Department seeking to have his impounded car returned. Officers found Hall in the police station’s parking lot waiting for his sister.

State corrections officials acknowledged that no formal process exists to alert police agencies of decisions by the board to lift parole holds, although law enforcement agencies are typically notified of releases by parole officials when requested to do so by police or prosecutors.

In the wake of this case, local prosecutors said the system must be improved.

“If there is no formal policy there certainly should be one,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. John Lynch, who oversees the Beverly Hills office. Beverly Hills police had arrested Hall on Dec. 22, one week after he allegedly stabbed Jurgen Hapke, 65, to death as Hapke and a partner painted the exterior of a Wells Fargo bank on Wilshire Boulevard.

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

Prosecutors did not immediately charge Hall in that crime while Beverly Hills police detectives continued to gather evidence in the case. In the interim, Hall was kept in jail on a parole violation: in this case, that he allegedly possessed a weapon in the commission of a crime. This is a common practice authorities use to hold suspects while they continue investigations.

But detectives and the district attorney’s office said they didn’t know that the state parole board had scheduled a review hearing to determine whether Hall should be kept in custody.

“Had we been advised that we needed to file a case by a set date, we would have complied with the request,” said Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mitch McCann.

State law requires that once a parole hold is placed on a suspect, a hearing must take place within 35 days. Under that schedule, Hall’s hearing would have to have occurred by last Thursday. The board of parole hearing that handles adult cases is made up of 12 members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. In 2002-03, the agency handled 43,599 parole revocation hearings.

As part of that process, parole officials must conduct an investigation and prepare a parole violation report, which is forwarded to the board.

Kenneth Ford, chief deputy of the parole region that covers Los Angeles County, said his agency completed the report on Hall’s alleged parole violation on Jan. 3, the same day it was forwarded to the state board of parole hearing.

The report contained information that was conveyed verbally from the Beverly Hills Police Department about the slaying. Ford said parole officials in Los Angeles did not receive any police reports related to the case but were able to present “a thorough report” to the state board of parole hearing. (Hall had a criminal record but for mostly nonviolent crimes).

Beyond that, Ford would not comment on the board’s decision.

J.P Tremblay, assistant secretary for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Wednesday that parole officials and the board of parole hearings were still trying to determine what happened in the Hall case.

“We’re looking at what happened in this particular instance, whether there was breakdown in communications or whatever,” he said. “We want to make sure we are correct all the time.”

Lynch said authorities were fortunate this time that Hall was recaptured but said they might not be as successful next time unless the system is changed.

“In the absence of a written policy, you would hope that the parole board would provide that information to the requesting agency,” he said.