In Re Hyde

On November 9, 2005, pursuant to Penal Code sections 3041 and 3042, the Board of Parole Hearings (the Board) found Paul Hyde, a prisoner confined in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, unsuitable for parole and declined to set a parole date. Hyde filed a timely petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Los Angeles County Superior Court challenging the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the Board’s decision. On January 3, 2007, the superior court issued an order granting the petition. The People of the State of California appeal from the January 3, 2007, order.

The People contend that the superior court ignored the relevant standard of judicial review and that the Board’s decision Hyde was unsuitable for parole is supported by some evidence, which is all that is required to satisfy the requirements of due process.

We find merit in the People’s contention and reverse the superior court’s order, thereby reinstating the Board’s decision.

FACTS

I. The Commitment Offenses

In 1973, at age 19, in the Los Angeles County Superior Court case No. A068239, Hyde was convicted of first degree murder (§ 187; count 5), four counts of robbery of the…