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State appeals court orders murderer paroled
Oakland Tribune, Oct 21, 2005 by Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER
A state appeals court has overturned Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's rejection of parole for a San Mateo County murderer and has ordered the man freed.
The governor failed to properly weigh the facts of George Scott's case when he overruled the Board of Prison Terms' recommendation that Scott be paroled, the First District Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday in San Francisco.
Scott, 65, "has no juvenile record, possesses a stable social history, has performed acts which tend to indicate the presence of remorse, his age reduces the probability of recidivism, he has made realistic plans for release, and his activities while in prison indicate an enhanced ability to function within the law," appeals court Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline wrote.
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Schwarzenegger's rejection was based wholly on his view of the crime's gravity, Kline wrote. "The governor may believe Scott would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society if now released from prison, but that opinion finds no factual support whatsoever in the record that was before him," Kline wrote.
Nathan Barankin, Attorney General Bill Lockyer's spokesman, said Wednesday his office had argued the governor was within his authority to reverse the parole recommendation, and the court disagreed.
"We're reviewing it and evaluating our options, and we'll discuss it with our client, the governor," Barankin said.
The attorney general is not involved in the governor's decision to approve or reject parole recommendations but defends the governor's decisions against legal challenges.
Scott will remain in the Solano State Prison at Vacaville for at least one more month while the state mulls whether to seek the California Supreme Court's review.
Paroling convicted murderers has been a political hot potato in California for years as governors have sought to avoid seeming "soft on crime." Gray Davis' blanket policy of denying parole while he was governor was shot down by the courts. Schwarzenegger has approved dozens of the Board of Prison Terms' parole recommendations but has reversed far more.
Scott, a Navy veteran and a part-owner of a soft-drink company, in July 1986 shot his wife's drug dealer and lover in San Bruno. He turned himself in to police three days after the shooting and four days before the victim died of his wounds. Scott was convicted of second-degree murder and in 1987 was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison.
In 2003, after several requests for parole had been denied, Scott sought the Court of Appeal's help. The court found the Board of Prison Terms' 2001 denial of parole was unsupported by evidence, and ignored "substantial" evidence of Scott's suitability for release.
The court ordered a new parole hearing, and the board in July 2004 found Scott suitable for parole and set a release date. Schwarzenegger in December deemed Scott an unreasonable risk of danger to society if released, reversing the board's ruling.
Prison reports show Scott has been a model inmate and a hard worker, Tuesday's ruling notes, and undisputed prison evaluations note he committed his crime during a period of extreme mental stress so he is a low risk for any future violence. The governor's indifference to all this "significantly distorts" the nature and gravity of Scott's crime and denies him the "individualized consideration of all relevant factors" state regulations require, Kline wrote.
Scott's court-appointed lawyer, Michael Satris of Bolinas, said Wednesday he us "very gratified for some recognition that rehabilitation does occur within the California prison system."
"It's a good indication of the arbitrariness and capriciousness of the whole system when somebody like this guy is denied parole for so long," he said.
Contact Josh Richman at jrichman@angnewspapers.com.
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