In Re McDonald

SUMMARY

We find the Governor’s reversal of the decision by the Board of Parole Hearings (Board) to grant parole to Michael McDonald is not supported by any evidence McDonald currently poses an unreasonable risk of danger to society. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s grant of the petition for writ of habeas corpus.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SYNOPSIS

A jury convicted McDonald and Kenneth German of the second degree murder of 16-year-old Alexander Geraldo; both McDonald and German appealed. German’s conviction was reversed, but McDonald’s was affirmed. According to the appellate decision (which was read into the record at McDonald’s parole hearings), the following evidence was presented at trial: “In December 1991, German was home on leave from the Army. Prior to returning home for the holidays, he had received word that his girlfriend was spending time with [Geraldo]. At a party on December 27, 1991, at Neilson Hul’s house, attended by a group of friends with ties to Long Beach Poly High School, particularly the school’s R.O.T.C. program and the social organization known as the Ace[s] of Spades, German is quoted as saying several times that he wanted to kill the…