SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed Wednesday to parole a woman who killed her husband's mistress in 1987 -- marking the second case in a week in which the newly elected governor has granted parole to a convicted murderer and a notable departure from the policy of his predecessor, Gray Davis.
One of the hallmarks of Davis' five years as governor was his repeated refusal to grant paroles approved by the state's Board of Prison Terms.
Of 294 paroles agreed to by the board in murder cases, Davis blocked all but eight, following his professed belief that extenuating circumstances should not be used to justify homicide. He twice rejected parole for Rosario Munoz, the woman Schwarzenegger has now agreed to free.
Shortly after his election, Davis said in an interview with The Times that he did not believe in redemption in murder cases.
"If you take someone else's life, forget it," he said. Aides later denied that Davis' statements expressed a firm policy, but in at least one case a state judge found that Davis had adopted an illegal blanket policy of denying parole in all murder cases.
Schwarzenegger, by contrast, appears to be taking a more liberal stance and providing an early indication of his overall attitude toward criminal justice issues.
Although Davis waited two years to approve a parole, Schwarzenegger's first such action came last Thursday, three days after he took office. That case involved a Sacramento man convicted of a 1985 murder. At the same time, the governor denied parole for a Visalia man who killed a woman while driving drunk in 1986.
Aides to Schwarzenegger have also said the governor is considering cuts in the state prison budget, which Davis protected against reductions.
"Schwarzenegger said he was going to be an economic conservative and a social moderate," said Dan Schnur, a Republican political consultant with close ties to the new administration. "Most self-described moderates would agree that some convicts are deserving of parole."
The governor seems more willing than Davis to chance being blamed if a parolee commits another crime, Schnur said.
"There's some risk every time a governor grants parole," he said. "But as Gray Davis discovered, there can be a political risk in appearing too rigid and doctrinaire by rejecting every parole recommendation."
