In Re Burns
Opinion
Opinion
Morrison, J.
Petitioner Steven Bums is serving a term of 15 years to life following his 1980 conviction of second degree murder. In October 2002, the Board of Prison Terms (now Board of Parole Hearings; hereafter Board) determined that Bums was not suitable for parole and deferred further consideration of parole for five years on the ground that it was unreasonable to expect Bums to be found suitable for parole within that period.
On Bums’s petition for writ of habeas corpus, the trial court found the Board had no reasonable justification for deferring parole consideration for five years. The court ordered issuance of a writ directing the Board to amend its decision to reflect a deferral period of three years, and to place Bums on its October 2005 hearing calendar.
On appeal, the Board contends the order for writ must be reversed because (1) some evidence supports the five-year deferral and (2) alternatively, the court should not have ordered a three-year deferral and instead should have directed the Board to reconsider its decision. For reasons we shall explain, the first contention has merit and requires reversal of the judgment (order).