A parole hearing scheduled for Friday for a man serving time for fatally shooting a 17-year-old girl on prom night in Anaheim in 1991 has been postponed indefinitely, an Orange County prosecutor said Thursday.
The hearing for Paul Crowder was “scratched” for undisclosed medical reasons, according to Deputy District Attorney Paul Chrisopoulos.
Chrisopoulos was hoping to persuade a parole board that Crowder should not be found suitable for parole. It’s unclear when another hearing would be scheduled, but Chrisopoulos said it could be at least three months since Marsy’s Law requires that amount of notification to victims before a parole board hearing.
Two years ago, a parole board found Crowder not suitable for release from prison. There wasn’t supposed to be another hearing for five years, but Crowder’s attorneys persuaded appellate justices that the hearing was flawed and Crowder should get another hearing as soon as possible, according to Chrisopoulos.
Chrisopoulos said his opposition would rely on three rules violations Crowder has allegedly committed this year. The prosecutor said he has not yet found out specifics on the rules violations.
Crowder, 42, who is being held at Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, was sentenced in 1991 to 15 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder of Berlyn Cosman on June 1, 1991.
In the past, the victim’s father, Mark Cosman, has advocated for the release of his daughter’s killer. He even wrote a letter to then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to support Crowder’s release.
For the first time two years ago, the victim’s sister and mother, flew to one of Crowder’s parole hearings to oppose his release.
Attorney Todd Spitzer, who represents the victim’s sister, Morgan Cosman Kelly, and her mother, Susan Cosman, said they would decline comment. At the Sept. 19, 2012, parole board hearing, Susan Cosman was so agitated that she had to be rushed to an area hospital.
Crowder was found suitable for parole by a parole board in October 2011, but Gov. Jerry Brown reversed its decision a month later.
In an interview before the hearing two years ago, Morgan Cosman Kelly told City News Service the difference of opinion on Crowder with her father does not affect their relationships with each other.
“There’s 100 percent respect both on my mom and my side for my father’s spiritual journey,” she said at the time. “I respect his decisions… But my father doesn’t speak for the entire family. That was his choice, his decision.”
Crowder’s attorneys have argued in the past that he has been active in self-help programs in prison and has carried on a correspondence with the victim’s father. Crowder has also participated in a “scared straight” program for troubled youths brought to the prison by their parents, his attorneys have said.
Many of those youths and their parents have written supportive letters for Crowder.
In Brown’s reversal of the parole board’s finding in 2011 he alleged Crowder has a history of transporting drugs and gang communications in prison.
Crowder was not in high school at the time of the shooting, but was invited to the prom party by a friend, who was dating Cosman. During the party at an Anaheim hotel Crowder waved a gun around.
At some point, Crowder was told he could not sleep in Cosman’s room, sparking an argument. Crowder threatened the victim and her friends.
Just before dawn, Crowder returned to Cosman’s room and fired a gunshot with the bullet striking Cosman in the head, killing her.
— City News Service