in 2001 and then, despite the Governor's rejection of the parole board's 2001 decision, decline to adopt the Governor's unsuitability findings and grant Hayward parole again upon his eleventh application in 2003.
Many of the factual findings upon which the Governor relied in reversing the Board's grant of parole have no evidentiary support in the record. First, the Governor asserted that Hayward was unsuitable for parole because, until relatively recently, he refused to accept responsibility for his crime and did not demonstrate any remorse for his crime. However, Hayward admitted his guilt and took responsibility for his crime at a 1993 Board hearing, more than ten years before the Governor reversed the parole grant.
Second, the Governor based his reversal of Hayward's parole on his finding that Hayward had anextensive record of alcohol and drug abuse. Hayward, however, has not used alcohol since 1974, much less abused it. The Governor stated that Hayward used heroin from 1955 until 1976. To the contrary, Hayward experimented with the drug for one month, while he was in prison, and then immediately quit and has never used it again. The Governor also expressed his concern that Hayward had only engaged in limited substance abuse counseling. However, Hayward has participated in the Yoke Fellows, Project Change, and other support and counseling programs for many years.
Third, the Governor relied on Hayward's "lifetime of escalating criminality and violence" in reversing his parole. The Governor stated that Hayward admitted he was responsible for 75 to 120 very serious crimes for which he was never arrested.