Parole Power to the People

Community outrage blocks a rapist-murderer's release

William Fain, 36, is a model prisoner at San Quentin. He gets along well with fellow inmates and staff and says he has found God. A psychiatrist has concluded that his potential for violence is "probably less than average." So a parole board ordered his release in January. But instead of getting out, Fain unwillingly has become an entry in California legal annals. Twice now he has won a parole only to have it short-circuited by a public uproar--making him the first person to be held past his proposed release expressly because of community pressure.

Californians still have vivid memories of what Fain did one night in June 1967. Driving along a country road in the San Joaquin Valley, he flashed his headlights at the car in front of him until it pulled over. When the other driver, Mark Ulrich, 17, got out, Fain killed him with a shotgun, then raped his two young women companions. Convicted of those crimes and a third rape, Fain drew a life sentence. When word of his impending parole reached Ulrich's family and friends, they formed the Keep Fain In Committee. A petition contending that Fain was too dangerous to return to the streets attracted 62,500 signatures. Four city councils, three county boards and even the state legislature urged parole officials to reconsider.

Public outrage about a pending parole is almost never relevant legally. But this campaign worked. Calling the outcry "extraordinary," the board of prison terms stopped Pain's release. Fain may not have been surprised. Six years ago, a 22,000-name petition and a single legislator teamed to block Fain's first parole date. That about-face was upheld by a state appeals court, which ruled that the authorities' "developing awareness of the public hostility" was new information that could be grounds for rescinding his parole.

While Fain is reportedly "calm" about this second disappointment, his lawyers will again challenge the parole reversal, arguing that the reliance on public opinion is unconstitutional. Fain is not the only California prisoner with a direct stake in the outcome. Another is Gregory Powell, whose murder of a Los Angeles policeman was the basis of Joseph Wambaugh's The Onion Field. He is due for release in June. Sirhan Sirhan, Robert Kennedy's assassin, becomes eligible for parole in 1984, and somewhat further in the future, Murderer Charles Manson too may be up for consideration. But if their fates are in the public's hands, they should not be making any plans. So long as the community outrage at a crime persists, a life sentence in California could really last for life.

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