a strong candidate for a favorable readjustment in the community."
On June 27, 2002, after Hayward's tenth parole consideration hearing, a two-member panel of the Board reached a split decision regarding Hayward's suitability for parole. The panel referred the decision to the en banc Board which found Hayward suitable for parole by a majority vote.
Then-Governor Gray Davis reviewed the Board's decision as article 5, section 8(b) of the California Constitution entitles him to do.[3] On January 10, 2003, the Governor reversed the parole grant, giving the following reasons for denying Hayward parole: (1) Hayward's crime was "particularly grave," premeditated, and perpetrated against an outnumbered, unarmed, and inebriated victim; (2) Hayward had refused to assume adequate responsibility for the victim's death; (3) Hayward had a "lifetime of escalating criminality andviolence"; (4) Hayward had an unstable social history, including an extensive history of alcohol and substance abuse; (5) Hayward had been extensively involved in gangs, both inside and outside of prison; and (6) Hayward's psychological evaluators "remain[ed] convinced that he poses a danger to society."
A panel of the Board held Hayward's eleventh parole consideration hearing on June 19, 2003. In addition to reconsidering *540 the evidence with which it had been previously presented, several letters were submitted to and reviewed by the Board at that hearing. Randy Cammack, the secretary/treasurer of Teamsters Local 63 wrote to indicate that he would support Hayward's efforts to find work if Hayward was granted parole. Robert Sharp, Hayward's best friend for forty-five years, wrote to say that, if released, Hayward could live