In re Butler

The warden of Folsom State Prison appeals from the trial court order granting inmate Robert G. Butler’s habeas corpus petition to overturn the Governor’s denial of Butler’s release after the Board of Parole Hearings’ decision to parole Butler after 27 years in state prison for a double homicide. We agree with the warden that the Governor did not improperly rely on new evidence from outside the administrative record and that some evidence supports the Governor’s decision. We therefore reverse the judgment granting Butler’s habeas corpus petition. The effect of our decision is to reinstate the Governor’s decision denying release.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. The Crimes

In December 1985 Robert G. Butler shot and killed Robert Jones, 47, and Ronald McClendon, 17, inside Jones’s house. Each was shot twice at close range while sleeping. Jones was shot while in his bed and McClendon was shot while on a living room sofa.

Butler was 22 at the time and a nationally ranked track and field star attending Azusa Pacific College. Jones was his former high school teacher. Butler had been living with his uncle while in high school but Jones took Butler in after a dispute arose…