County supervisors Tuesday agreed to allocate $25,000 to the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office to prepare for the parole hearing of local murderer Gustavo Marlow.
District Attorney Candice Hooper requested the funds at Tuesday morning’s board of supervisors meeting. The money will go toward preparing victim/witness interviews, statements and findings—along with travel and other incidental expenses—for the April 7 hearing in Jamestown.
“Just bring us an accountability of those dollars spent,” Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz told Hooper on Tuesday.
The D.A. committed to spending properly.
“I’m sure you all realize, but I’m very frugal and I’ll keep it my best to keep it under that,” she said.
Supervisors at the meeting also agreed to bring back a letter for consideration that would support the effort to keep Marlow in prison. They plan to ask the Hollister City Council to do the same.
Marlow was convicted for two separate murders at age 17 in 1988 and a rape/assault three years later. Since his sentence is over on the rape conviction, he is eligible for parole on the homicide cases due to a new state law opening up such eligibility for crimes committed in youth.
Marlow will go before the Jamestown parole board in a hearing to determine whether to grant him freedom after the 1988 killings of 21-year-old Martha Delarosa and 16-year-old Lisa Koehler.
Marlow was captured after a period of 18 months in the Hollister area involving an ongoing series of stalking, assault and rape incidents that authorities later linked to Marlow as a suspect. After his arrest for the two homicides and a long case duration, due to the district attorney’s groundbreaking use at the time of DNA evidence, Marlow had been in the California Youth Authority system for three years when he escaped and then raped and assaulted a 32-year-old laundry worker on his way out. He initially received a total sentence of 66 years to life in prison.
Supervisors like Margie Barrios on Tuesday also encouraged the public to share letters against Marlow’s release.
“Having lived in fear for myself, my daughters, it was a very frightening time,” Barrios said.
