Cop killer is denied parole

The chair of the New Mexico Parole Board said she gave a convicted cop-killer numerous opportunities during a parole hearing Wednesday to make the case about why he deserved to be let out of prison after 30 years.

But Joel Lee Compton failed to do so, and the board decided Friday to deny him parole. It was his first hearing since he was convicted 30 years ago of killing then-Albuquerque police officer Gerald Cline at a Central Avenue hotel in February 1983. Board members checked 13 of 24 boxes of reasons for denying parole, including “negative attitude,” and “nature and seriousness of offense.”

Parole board chair Sandra Dietz told the Journal she and her fellow board members asked repeatedly about Compton’s plans for his life outside of prison, but Compton refused to give satisfactory answers.

He grew frustrated, didn’t have a plan for his life outside prison bars and eventually asked to leave the hearing early and return to his cell, according to Yolanda Cline, the officer’s widow, who was at the Wednesday hearing.

In the board’s first-ever news release announcing the result of a hearing, it outlined two of the biggest reasons it ruled to keep Compton in prison.

“Parole is not in the best interest of society and … there is a substantial risk that the inmate would not conform to the obligations and conditions of parole,” said Sherry Stephens, the board’s executive director.

Even though Compton – who is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder – was not allowed release after the Wednesday hearing, he will likely have many more chances to petition for parole.

Compton was originally sentenced to death in September 1983 for killing the officer and joined several other inmates on New Mexico’s death row. But in November 1986, then-New Mexico Gov. Toney Anaya commuted the death sentences to life sentences for the five inmates who were on death row at the time, including Compton.

The life sentences granted to Compton and the others mandated a 30-year sentence but offer a chance for release every two years.

That two-year hearing interval is a daunting prospect for Yolanda Cline, who made the trip to Santa Fe along with two family members at Wednesday’s hearing to speak against Compton’s release. More than 500 letters arrived from around the country asking the board to keep Compton in prison.

Cline could not be reached for comment about the board’s ruling Friday, but she said recently that she feels “victimized” at having to return to Santa Fe every two years in order to testify against her husband’s killer.

Compton, 59, will continue to come up for parole until he is released or dies in prison.
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal