Keeping Allaway Behind Bars for Life Is Crucial

I read with the great interest and concern Dana Parsons’ column (“When It Comes to Freeing Allaway, There’s No Margin for Error,” Aug. 1) concerning the potential release of Orange County’s worst mass murderer, Edward Charles Allaway.

Parsons reminds us that Allaway is “a real person,” not just a “symbol” of a mentally ill person. What is painstakingly missing is the fact that most mentally ill people don’t kill or harm others. Allaway, while found not guilty by reason of insanity by a judge, is a mentally ill person who shot and killed seven “real people” and injured two others.

We must never forget that our current state law allows this murderer to annually petition for release and therefore repeatedly impact the lives of those “real people” who made the ultimate sacrifice, the premature death of a loved one. They, too, are “real people,” and the law must protect them as well.

Twenty-five years ago, on July 12, 1976, the “real people” of in nine families were forced to accept the reality that their loved ones were either dead or critically injured. Twenty-five years later, these “real” families have been forced to make yet more personal sacrifices, giving up time, money, careers and many hours of anxiety and sleeplessness to fight the release of mass murderer Edward Charles Allaway. In just five minutes, lives were lost and the survivors’ lives were changed forever. Nearly every minute of every day, the victims struggle to find ways to keep Allaway locked up so he cannot hurt anyone else.

For 25 years, the fight for justice has been their fight. But now all that has changed. It is not just their struggle for justice, it is all of California’s fight. His release into any of our communities poses a significant risk to the safety of every “real person” in Orange County and throughout the state. That is why I founded the organization Responsible Justice for Communities to help prevent his release.

Allaway has applied for his freedom before, but what makes us so concerned this time is that his psychiatric team is now recommending his conditional release back into society. We cannot let this happen.

The only right a mass murderer who successfully argues a mental defense should have is the right to treatment while in custody. Certainly if Allaway had been found sane, he would either have found his way to death row or would be serving seven life sentences. The system is neither just nor fair when an insane murderer can apply for release every single year under state law. It is no wonder the victim’s families have no piece of mind.

In the very near future, Allaway will get his court trial on the issue of conditional release. If he is successful, he will be “conditionally released” into a county monitoring program for one year. At the end of that year, he is then entitled to a jury trial on the issue of unconditional unmonitored release. So, in our minds, a man who killed seven in cold blood and shot two others in a five-minute shooting spree is always one year away from being a free man.

Seven “real” families have never been allowed to move on with their lives. The pain has never lightened. It is the irony of this tragic situation: The “real” victims have received a life sentence, while this admitted mass murderer may have the opportunity to walk away a free man. We will not let this happen. We want responsible justice for our community here in Orange County and justice for every resident of California.

Todd Spitzer

Supervisor, Third District