Schwarzenegger Grants Killer Parole!

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to parole James Tramel, a convicted murderer who became an Episcopal priest while behind bars, according to a spokeswoman for the Governor.

The state parole board voted last October to release Tramel, 38, who was convicted in 1986 of killing a homeless man in Santa Barbara. Schwarzenegger, who rejected parole for Tramel a year ago, declined this time around to review his case, said Julie Soderlund, an aide to Schwarzenegger.

Tramel is scheduled to be released Sunday, said Rev. Richard Helmer, a San Francisco clergyman who coordinated a campaign for his parole.

“I feel humbled,” Tramel said from Solano State Prison in Vacaville. “I feel the weight of my responsibility to justify the faith that people have put in me.”

Schwarzenegger's office did not say why the Governor had changed his mind about paroling Tramel. However, his decision met with harsh criticism from Edward Stephenson, father of the murder victim, Michael Stephenson.

“We certainly don't want him out but there's not a thing we can do,” said Stephenson, of Newport Beach.

Tramel was convicted of killing Michael Stephenson, 29, in an unprovoked crime that the victim's family called a “thrill killing.” Tramel, who was a 17-year-old Santa Barbara prep school student at the time, was sentenced to 15 years to life for second-degree murder, as was another defendant, David Kurtzman, who stabbed Stephenson 17 times and remains incarcerated.

Tramel began counseling dying inmates in prison, and in 1998 became the first prisoner to be accepted as a student at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, where he earned a master's degree in theological studies through an off-campus program. He started an Episcopal congregation in prison and became a deacon in 2004 before being ordained as a priest last year.

Tramel expressed remorse for his actions in a statement he read to the parole board in October. His release was supported by the Santa Barbara County district attorney's office, which prosecuted him, and by top-ranking members of the Episcopal clergy.

Schwarzenegger refused the rights of clemency to Stan "Tookie" Williams in December and then made the same decision against Clarence Ray Allen in January.

Global Arnold Staff

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