The extraordinary case of Stephanie Lazarus took another turn Monday, with the state parole board’s executive committee upholding a recommendation for parole for the former Los Angeles police detective convicted of murdering her former boyfriend’s wife in 1986.
The decision followed testimony from supporters that she had turned her life around behind bars, as well as pleas from the victim’s friends and family that Lazarus is a master of manipulation and should remain locked up.
The case attracted national attention when police detectives used DNA to identify her as the killer 23 years after the murder. Lazarus was a 25-year-old patrol officer at the time of the killing. And she was a detective assigned to investigate high end art thefts at the time of her arrest in 2009.
Lazarus beat Sherri Rasmussen and shot her three times in the chest in the Van Nuys apartment Rasmussen shared with her husband John Ruetten, according to prosecutors. Lazarus had warned her ex-boyfriend not to marry Rasmussen, a 29-year-old hospital nursing director at the time.
Lazarus was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison.
She is eligible for early parole because she committed the crime when she was 24-years-old. Under the state’s Youthful Offender Program, people who commit crimes before the age of 26 are considered to lack impulse control and an ability to fully understand consequences and therefore should be eligible for early parole.
Lazarus is now 64.
Gov. Gavin Newsom can still overrule the executive committee.
During a hearing, supporters and opponents of Lazarus’ release painted a starkly different picture of the former police officer.
“Stephanie is a kind, compassionate and dedicated individual,” said Jane Dorotik of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners….
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