California courts have again, in In re Lazor, reminded the California Board of Parole Hearings (Board) of the requirement that it must either set a date for the release of an inmate sentenced to an indeterminate period or it must find that one of the statutory factors related to suitability provides some evidence that the inmate remains a danger to society.

In re Lazor, like many of the cases coming before the courts in recent months relates to a case that was heard before the Board prior to the California Supreme Court decisions in In re Shaputis and In re Lawrence In Lawrence and Shaputis the Court explained the “some evidence rule.” Prior to Lawrence and Shaputis all the Board had to do was show that there was some evidence that one of the factors related to release of a prisoner existed. But as Lawrence and Shaputis made clear the Board must show that some evidence of the factor exists and that it indicates that the prisoner if released will be a danger to society.

Thus the Superior Courts and the Courts of Appeal are reviewing many of the Board’s decisions made prior to Lawrence and Shaputis on writs of habeas corpus and sending them back for rehearings in cases where the Board did not relate the suitability factors to a claim of current dangerousness to society.

In In re Lazor, decided by the Board on February 23, 2006, it merely pointed out several suitability factors related to release without stated whether it was relying upon the factors to determine that Lazor remained a danger to society. Perhaps, chief among these was the nature of the crime. The Superior Court in deciding the original writ of habeas corpus reviewed the trial transcript and found that as murders go, Lazor’s may have had an imperfect self defense claim that was not sufficient to justify his acts but which was not particularly horrendous. The appellate court rejected the Superior Court’s claim since the courts must give deference to the findings of the Board. But nevertheless the Appellate Court returned the case to the Board, ordering a new hearing, on the ground that the Board did not make a finding that Lazor is currently a danger to society.