Parole

Late last year, Pennsylvania officials notified Graterford prison inmate Robert "Mudman" Simon that parole was imminent. The longtime Warlocks motorcycle gang member, imprisoned more than 20 years for murder, robbery and other crimes, would soon be released to live in New Jersey. This condition was attached to his freedom: Stay away from the Warlocks. "You must not contact or associate with the Warlock Motorcycle Club for any reason," said a Nov. 27 letter to Simon from the state Board of Probation and Parole.

Philadelphia police Officer Patrick McDonald's fatal encounter with the recently paroled Daniel Giddings is a tale about a system that worked precisely as designed and led to disaster. It touched off a furor in the city's law-enforcement community that echoed through City Hall and, eventually, the governor's office. When the pressure reached a certain point, the governor declared a freeze on state paroles pending a study on the process that let Giddings loose. It was a decision that never should have been made - a knee-jerk reaction that punishes thousands for the misdeeds of one. This is the kind of emotional decision-making that invariably leads to unintended consequences.

The man who once was Philadelphia's third-highest-ranking mobster was caught yesterday sneaking through a South Philadelphia alley in his bathrobe and socks as he tried one last time to elude the feds. Reputed mob captain Ronald Turchi Sr. was arrested as he fled out the back door of his girlfriend's house on Camac Street near Mifflin, according to Alan D. Lewis, U.S. marshal for the district. Turchi, 58, a convicted arsonist, had been missing since New Year's Eve, when a federal bench warrant was issued for his allegedly violating parole by associating with convicted felons, including reputed Philadelphia mob boss Ralph Natale and underboss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino.

Daniel Trinsey served six years in prison for robbery before he was paroled in 2007 and given a chance to change his ways. But in recent weeks, the 48-year-old Trinsey failed to check in with his parole supervisor. Police said he returned to crime, robbing a bank Friday in the Northeast, and he even appeared to be smiling in surveillance photos taken as he grasped a stack of cash. His final act of defiance came Monday afternoon in Fox Chase, where, police said, he refused to surrender and pulled a gun - later determined to be a replica of a .40-caliber handgun - on authorities.

Jack Lopinson, convicted 22 years ago of hiring a hit man to murder his wife and business partner in one of the most sensational crimes in Philadelphia history, is trying for the fourth time to have his life sentence commuted to parole. Lopinson, a restaurateur, was 27 in 1964 when he hired Frank "Birdman" Phelan for $10,000 to murder his wife, Judith, and business partner, Joseph Malito. Lopinson, 50, is still behind bars. Lopinson tried unsuccessfully to have his two concurrent life sentences commuted to life on parole in 1977, 1978 and 1980.

Daniel Owen McElwee, 80, of Levittown, a retired parole supervisor, died Sunday of heart failure at St. Mary Medical Center, Middletown Township. He had been ill for some time. Mr. McElwee toured South America in the late 1940s to study penal institutions in several countries. He then worked in Philadelphia for 30 years for the Pennsylvania Board of Parole, retiring in 1983 as a parole supervisor. In retirement, he used his passion for reading and history to become a self-taught historian.

Vincent Charles Marino wasn't rehabilitated the first time. And yesterday, his 33d birthday, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the second time in his life. His first sentence in 1979 was for sexual assault and lasted seven years. His second stemmed from a sexual assault that ended in death, and this time, the sentence will last much longer. Yesterday, Camden County Superior Court Judge David Eynon sentenced Marino, formerly of the first block of Maiden Lane, Somerdale, to 30 years without parole for the Sept.

Susanna Goihman - the Queen Village restaurateur who pleaded guilty in the hit-and-run death of Kayla Peter nearly five years ago - was paroled Sunday from the Crawford County prison she used to call home, state prison officials confirmed. Now home looks more tropical for the convicted felon. Goihman, now 47, who was sentenced to three to six years for running over the 15-year-old victim while driving drunk, moved to Florida, where she'll be watched by the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision, said Leo Dunn, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole.

An Avondale man, who admitted murdering his wife nine years ago, contended Thursday in Chester County Court that he would never have entered a guilty plea if he had known he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Johnny Wayne Reece, 42, who is seeking a new trial, testified during a hearing in Chester County Court that his former attorney told him he would be eligible for parole in six to nine years. Reece told Judge Lawrence Wood that he only recently learned through a prison employee that the life sentence he received from then-President Judge D. T. Marrone made him ineligible for parole under Pennsylvania state law. Reece, who said he grew up in North Carolina, told Wood that he was unfamiliar the state law here when he pleaded guilty in 1980.

Accused serial rapist Linwood Brant told a judge yesterday that he was too busy trying to find a job to comply with court-ordered parole requirements. Cops say he was too busy attacking and robbing women. Brant, 22, faces more than 100 years in prison if he's convicted of raping an 18-year-old Southwest Philadelphia woman near 52nd Street and Baltimore Avenue on Jan. 10. He also is awaiting hearings in at least five other sexual attacks in West and Southwest Philadelphia, and police are looking for more possible victims.

MAYS LANDING, N.J. — Describing him as "cruel, depraved, and remorseless," a Superior Court judge sentenced Craig Arno to 120 years in prison Thursday for the brutal kidnapping and murder of an Atlantic City casino patron two years ago. During a highly charged sentencing hearing in Superior Court, Judge Michael Donio told the Atlantic City man he had to be "taken out of society for the rest of [his] natural life," noting that the sentence for murder, kidnapping, aggravating arson, and robbery would require Arno to serve 102 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.

DEER LODGE, Mont. - Montana officials on Friday rejected parole for a notorious "mountain man" who abducted a world-class athlete in 1984 to keep as a wife for his son, and then shot her and left her to die during a rescue attempt. The state Board of Pardons and Parole held its third parole hearing for Don Nichols as federal authorities search for his son Dan, accused this month of new drug and gun crimes. During his 20-minute hearing, Nichols, 81, expressed contempt for the board.

CORCORAN, Calif. - On Aug. 9, 1969, two naive 17-year-old girls were launched on a path that led to the unlikeliest of friendships. That infamous night, four young people under the sway of a charismatic career criminal slipped into a neighborhood of Hollywood glitterati, then bludgeoned and stabbed rising young actress Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and two others. Across town the next night, the band killed again. The name Charles Manson quickly became a synonym for unimaginable evil, which nobody knows better than Debra Tate, Sharon's little sister, and Barbara Hoyt, the Manson family member whose testimony helped put the killers in prison.

The case before the Supreme Court challenging life-without-parole sentences for teens is really about hope. Does the Constitution somehow bar the courts from depriving all hope of release from prison for young offenders who, in fact, are not fully responsible for their actions, no matter how heinous? Judging from recent arguments, the court could be leaning toward yet another landmark decision that would bolster the core tenet of the juvenile-justice system — namely, that youthful offenders deserve a second chance.

CORCORAN, Calif. - A California prison panel denied parole Wednesday to mass murderer Charles Manson in his 12th and possibly final bid for freedom. Manson, now a gray-bearded, 77-year-old, did not attend the hearing where the parole board ruled he had shown no efforts to rehabilitate himself and would not be eligible for parole for 15 more years. "This panel can find nothing good as far as suitability factors go," said John Peck, a member of the panel that met at Corcoran State Prison in central California.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court debated Tuesday whether young teenagers convicted of killing someone may be locked up for life with no chance of parole, the latest in a line of cases seeking a second chance for young people. The justices are looking at two cases involving teenagers serving life sentences. In one, 14-year-old Evan Miller in Alabama beat a man, then set fire to his home. In the other, 14-year-old Kuntrell Jackson in Arkansas didn't pull the trigger, but was involved in an attempted robbery in which another boy shot and killed a store clerk.

Calling himself a monster, James Lee Troutman begged detectives to kill him hours after confessing to raping and strangling 9-year-old neighbor Skyler Kauffman. That was last year. On Monday, he decided he wanted to live. An emotionless Troutman pleaded guilty in a Montgomery County courtroom to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, and abuse of a corpse, two months before a jury was to hear his case. As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Troutman, 25, of Souderton, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and an additional 10 to 20 years.

Calling himself a monster, James Lee Troutman begged detectives to kill him hours after confessing to raping and strangling 9-year-old neighbor Skyler Kauffman. That was last year. On Monday, he decided he wanted to live. An emotionless Troutman pleaded guilty in a Montgomery County courtroom to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, and abuse of a corpse, two months before a jury was to hear his case. As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Troutman, 25, of Souderton, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and an additional 10 to 20 years.

Whenever Willard Scott highlights seniors celebrating special birthdays on the Today show, I am struck by how kind the old folks always appear in photographs. At a certain age, their images take on a certain innocence usually reserved for babies. It has become a running gag with my colleagues at work. As photos of serene seniors flash across the screen, I'll sometimes call out criminal charges for which the old folks might have been arrested in their youth. Twisted, I know.