In Re Singler

In September 1982, Ronald Singler murdered his wife with a shotgun during a heated domestic argument. He was convicted of second degree murder and was sentenced to an indeterminate term of 15 years to life in state prison.

In 2006, the Board of Parole Hearings (the Board) found that Singler was not suitable for parole. Members of the Board acknowledged that what Singler has “been doing while ... in prison is very impressive,” i.e., his conduct as a prisoner has been “extremely positive” “both for self-enhancement and for the enhancement of other people’s lives” in that Singler has benefited, as have others, from “all the things that [he has] done” while incarcerated. Nevertheless, because of the “terrible” manner in which he murdered his wife (after arguing with her, he went into the garage, loaded a shotgun, and fatally shot her in the living room while their two young children were in the house) and then disposed of the body (by dumping it in a rural area), Board members concluded Singler had not persuaded them that he has demonstrated sufficient “insight” regarding what caused him to deal with his anger in such a violent way to convince them that, if released on…