Tag Archive for: Parole denied

Parole Denied for 2001 Santana High School Shooter

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said today that the Santana High School shooting defendant who opened fire at the school in Santee, California in March 2001 with a
revolver, killing two students and wounding 13 others was denied parole after an eight-hour hearing this morning in which 22 victims testified. After the hearing to weigh suitability for release, parole officials denied 38-year-old Charles “Andy” Williams’ request and said he should not be up for consideration again for another three years.

“I’m grateful to the Parole Board for listening to the victims in this case whose lives were forever changed by the defendant’s premeditated and cruel acts that terrorized an innocent school campus,” DA Stephan said. “Neither the 13 wounded victims nor the families of the two murdered students can regain what the defendant took from them.”

Williams was sentenced to 50 years-to-life in prison in June 2002. His parole hearing comes exactly 23 years since the mass shooting. His chance at parole is due to a change in state law that altered sentencing guidelines for juveniles who were tried as adults. In Williams’ case, the Youthful Parole law requires that any juvenile who was charged as an adult and received a life sentence has a chance at parole no later than 25 years into their sentence. Williams was 15 when he committed the crime.

In today’s hearing, the District Attorney’s Office argued that Williams remains an unreasonable risk and danger to society. Twenty-two victims who suffered as a result of the school shooting attended the video hearing and provided victim impact statements regarding the effects of the shooting.

The DA’s Lifer Hearing Unit has two main goals: to ensure that dangerous prisoners with life sentences are not released carelessly or improvidently, and to ensure that crime victims and their families are given an opportunity to participate in the parole hearing process and have their voices heard.

When a defendant is given a life sentence, the Lifer Hearing Unit processes the case to ensure that it is ready for future parole suitability hearings. This involves preserving victims’ statements and documenting the gravity of the crimes to ensure the offenders serve sentences proportional to their crimes.

Last year, there were 664 lifer parole hearings scheduled in San Diego County. Of those, 96 inmates received parole grants from the California Board of Parole Hearings. The remainder of the hearings –568– resulted in denials, postponements, or stipulations to a denial of parole.

The Lifer Hearing Unit is the state-wide leader in lifer matters and San Diego County serves as the training office for other prosecutors who seek to understand the complex laws governing parole hearings.

“Our DA Lifer Unit handles these complex and often gut-wrenching hearings, led by Deputy DA John Cross who is a statewide leader in lifer law,” DA Stephan said. “The Unit does an excellent job of representing victims and working to protect the safety of our communities when violent criminals are being considered for release.”

Photo of a judge's gavel and handcuffs on top of books.

Rapist Eligible for Elder Parole is Denied Release

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today that convicted rapist Randal Gers, 60, has been denied parole by the Board of Parole Hearings. In 1995, Gers kidnapped two different women on two separate occasions. He held them both for hours, bound them, and repeatedly raped, sodomized, and sexually assaulted them. The inmate used a knife to gain control of the women, tied a rope or belt around their neck to control them, and even left one victim tied to a tree in a remote area overnight before returning to sexually assault her again. This defendant had a prior conviction for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old and bashing her over the head.

The defendant received a 567 years-to-life sentence for his crimes, which was the longest sentence ever handed down in San Diego County at the time. His eligible parole date was originally November 2378, however the California Legislature changed the law in 2021 to lower the age of qualification for the Elderly Parole Program to inmates 50 years old or older who have served at least 20 years of continuous incarceration. But for the change in the law, Gers would have never received a parole hearing.

The District Attorney’s Office Lifer Unit, led by Deputy District Attorney John Cross, worked diligently to oppose the release of this dangerous inmate, and located the two kidnap and rape victims to alert them to the parole hearing, as well as the change in the law that made parole a possibility for their rapist. The two courageous victims appeared in front of the Parole Board on Tuesday, giving powerful impact statements and the District Attorney’s Office vigorously argued against the inmate’s release. Ultimately, the Board denied Gers parole for five years.

“These were extremely brutal and horrific crimes deserving of the life in prison sentence the defendant received,” said DA Stephan. “It is hard to believe that a sexual predator with multiple victims is eligible for release under this new law, causing additional trauma to victims who had to overcome the damage of the violent crimes they endured and thought their tormenter had received a final justice and sentence. Instead, these and many more victims are being pulled back into the criminal justice system time and time again. Our prosecutors will never abandon our victims and we will stand with them at these parole hearings. We won this battle, but in five years, we will have to fight alongside them again. And we will.”

“The denial of parole is an excellent example of the work the DA’s Lifer Hearing Unit does to represent the voice of the crime victims. We’re increasingly seeing inmates being released under the Elderly Parole Program and when the facts and the law support us as in this case, we fight against these unsafe and unjust releases,” Stephan said.

In arguing against parole, Deputy District Attorney John Cross detailed Gers’ disturbing and violent crimes. He also told the Board that Gers had no understanding why he committed the brutal rapes and showed no remorse. The inmate has not completed any self-help programming while in prison and offered excuses as to why he had not.

The DA’s Lifer Hearing Unit was formed in 1995 to ensure that victims of violent crime are given a chance to be heard at these proceedings, and to help prevent inappropriate grants of parole. Since the passage of the elder parole law and many other laws that allow early release of violent offenders, the Unit’s workload has dramatically increased. The Unit prepares for about 50 parole hearings each month, approximately 600 a year, and handles about 300 full hearings.