ABSTRACT
When Richard Martin 1 was a teenager, he ran away from an abusive home. A 46-year-old man took him in, and repeatedly drugged and raped him. When Richard was 16, his abuser told him to kill a man and steal a truck. He did so. Three weeks later, Richard brought himself to a police station and confessed. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. A sentence of life with the possibility of parole (“term-to-life” sentence) means that Richard had to serve a set number of years in prison, after which he became eligible for a hearing in which a parole board could grant or deny release on parole. Unlike most states, California recognizes a legal presumption in favor of granting release on parole which can be defeated by some evidence that a person poses a current danger. The parole board decided to approve Richard for release on three separate occasions, and each time the decision was reversed.
