Date: April 17, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY
WHO: Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas
WHAT: Published a video of today’s news conference with Collene Campbell and Dr. Henry T. Nicholas III announcing a civil lawsuit filed last week in Orange County Superior Court against the Board of Parole Hearings (the Board) on behalf of the People of the State of California and crime victim Campbell. The complaint is seeking injunctive relief against the Board for violating Marsy’s Law by allowing administrative staff to advance the parole hearing date, without new evidence, of inmate Lawrence Rayborn Cowell, who was convicted in 1983 of murdering 27-year-old Scott Campbell by throwing him out of an airplane into the ocean so he could steal the victim’s sports car.
Cowell is currently serving a life term in state prison and was found to be unsuitable for parole at his most recent hearing on Oct. 25, 2016. The OCDA’s complaint alleges the Board unlawfully advanced the date of Cowell’s parole hearing by one year to May 23, 2018, and failed to adequately notify the victim’s mother, Collene Campbell, of the new hearing date in violation of Marsy’s Law.
To watch the video, please visit the following link: https://youtu.be/zxZyeLlY75Y
WHEN: Today, April 17, 2018