Convicted murderer denied parole

State prison officials on Thursday rejected the parole bid of a San Fernando Valley man who says he was wrongly convicted of murdering his mother more than 24 years ago.

Despite new evidence casting doubt on Bruce Lisker’s conviction, a two-member parole board concluded that he remained “an unreasonable safety risk to the public” and should not be released.

Lisker, 41, was convicted of fatally beating and stabbing his 66-year-old mother, Dorka, who was attacked in the family’s Sherman Oaks home on March 10, 1983.

Parole officials at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione said they were required to evaluate Lisker’s suitability for release under the assumption that he had committed the crime and were prohibited from considering any new evidence in the case.

Last year, two federal judges ruled there was “essentially no evidence” that Lisker had killed his mother.

They said he should be permitted to proceed with a habeas corpus petition despite missing a statutory deadline for filing the appeal. However, they said, the new evidence first had to be addressed in state court before his case could proceed at the federal level.

Among the new evidence is an analysis of a bloody shoeprint left at the crime scene that was attributed to Lisker at trial, but has since been proved was not made by his shoe.

Lisker’s attorney, William Genego, said the parole decision was not surprising but nonetheless was disappointing to his client.

“It’s really frustrating,” Genego said.

Lisker’s state appeal is pending. His next parole hearing is scheduled in a year.

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matt.lait@latimes.com