panel found that Hayward's parole plans were realistic and that he now understood the magnitude of and accepted responsibility for the murder he committed.
On November 10, 2003, the Governor again reversed the parole grant. Governor Davis cited the same factors as he had cited in his reversal of the Board's previous parole grant. In addition, the Governor cited the Los Angeles County District Attorney's opposition to Hayward's release from prison as further justification for his reversal of the Board's parole grant.[4]
After the Governor's second reversal of parole, Hayward filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. On June 30, 2004, the court denied the petition in a minute order. The court rejected many of the Governor's findings, particularly those regardingrelease would unreasonably endanger public safety.
Hayward's initial crime was committed decades ago and with the type of unusual provocation, the victim's threat to or assault of Hayward's girlfriend, that seems not likely to recur in the years of life remaining for him. Hayward has accepted responsibility for his crime and does not seek to minimize its impact. At the same time, several additional factors demonstrate persuasively that Hayward can be released under supervisory conditions presenting no probable danger to society: his record of education in prison; the lack of any recent disciplinary offense or misconduct in prison; the many people who have gone to bat for him in their letters; along with the considered decisions of the parole board to first grant Hayward parole on his tenth application