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Man Who Killed Friend for Saying He Was Gay Released From Prison

Sunday, August 06, 2006

LOS ANGELES, August 6, 2006 (KABC) -- A man convicted of killing a high school classmate who revealed his homosexuality was released Saturday after years of being rejected for parole, his attorney said.

Robert Rosenkrantz, 39, walked out of the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo about 8:30 a.m. after two decades behind bars, said attorney Don Miller.

His parole officer picked him up and drove him to stay with family members in the Los Angeles area, Miller said.

"He was delighted to finally be free after 20 years," Miller said.

Rosenkrantz of Calabasas was 18 when he was sentenced to a 17-year-to-life term for second-degree murder in the June 28, 1985, shooting death of his boyhood friend Steven Redman. The 17-year-old boy was shot 10 times after revealing Rosenkrantz was gay following their graduation from Calabasas High School.

Rosenkrantz testified that he intended to shoot up Redman's car, but killed his friend when he used an anti-gay slur.

Rosenkrantz was told he would be eligible for parole after serving nine years in prison and was a model prisoner, but was denied release several times. Various judges have ruled Rosenkrantz should be paroled, but the state Attorney General's Office has appealed those rulings, keeping him behind bars.

Gov. Gray Davis twice vetoed Rosenkrantz's parole.

Superior Court Judge David Wesley said earlier this year Rosenkrantz's rights had been violated, finding that continuing parole rejections had turned his sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole into a sentence without that possibility.

On Thursday, the state Supreme Court declined to review an appeal by the California attorney general's office.

Miller said Rosenkrantz earned two college degrees while in prison and is qualified to work as a computer scientist. He said Rosenkrantz has several job offers, and his immediate plans are to "work and be a productive member of the community."

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