Date: July 14, 2015
OCDA TO OPPOSE PAROLE OF INMATE WHO BEAT AND SEVERELY DISFIGURED 16-YEAR-OLD FRIEND
SANTA ANA – The Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) is opposing the parole of an inmate who severely disfigured his then 16-year-old friend by beating him in a drainage ditch. William Robert Frederick, 40, Buena Park, is currently being held at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, San Diego. Frederick was found guilty by a jury of aggravated mayhem and was sentenced Jan. 11, 1991, to life in state prison with a one year sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon and great bodily injury while committing a felony, to be served consecutively. This case was originally prosecuted by then Deputy District Attorney Gary Paer. Frederick is scheduled for a parole hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, July 15, 2015, at 1:00 p.m., at the prison before the Board of Parole Hearings (Panel), California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Marc Labreche of the Major Fraud Unit will appear at the hearing to oppose Frederick’s parole.
1990 Aggravated Mayhem of John Doe
At approximately midnight on March 5, 1990, then 18-year-old Frederick lured his roommate, then 16-year-old John Doe, to a remote location under the pretense of stealing stereos from an old warehouse in Anaheim. Frederick and the victim had previously argued about thefts from one another.
Frederick drove John Doe and co-defendant John Scudder to a remote location, where he put John Doe in a chokehold and began beating him in a drainage ditch. Frederick used beer bottles, a knife, a piece of a wooden pallet, and his fists to attack John Doe on the neck, hands, and arms. After Frederick’s attack, John Doe was left bleeding and barely conscious in the drainage pipe. Frederick returned to John Doe’s house, where he was staying as a house guest, and washed the blood off his hands.
John Doe managed to crawl out of the pipe to a nearby residence to call 911. Frederick accompanied the victim’s family to the hospital pretending to be a concerned friend. Police later interviewed John Doe, who identified Frederick and Scudder as his attackers.
The victim’s numerous stab wounds required four hours of surgery and 158 stitches, leaving 16 visible scars.
In a written victim impact statement, submitted to the Panel pursuant to Marsy’s Law for All, to be read at the inmate’s parole hearing, John Doe stated, in part, “My family, as well as myself, have always feared that this person will return and make good of his threats of retaliation. I was 16 years old when this person brutally beat, tortured, slashed, stabbed me numerous times, then drug my bloody, beaten body into a drainage pipe and left for dead. The memories of that night have continued to haunt me and have changed my life forever.”
The victim’s parents also submitted a victim impact statement which stated, in part, “We are very concerned that by whatever means William Frederick needs to use, He [sic] will try to locate our son. We believe the hostility demonstrated in the attack of our son has not diminished. While in custody over the years, he has waxed worse and become even more violent. William Frederick, we believe will direct his hostility towards our family upon his release.”
Threat to Public Safety and Failure to Accept Responsibility
The inmate used his familiarity with the victim to lure John Doe to commit his vicious crime. Not only did the attack require premeditation and torture, but the inmate deceived the victim’s family and accompanied them to the hospital.
The inmate has demonstrated a reluctance to take vocational or educational classes while incarcerated, and has a documented prison history of fights, insubordination, obstructions of a peace officer, suicide attempts, battery against an inmate, failures to follow orders and other infractions. The violent nature of the inmate’s crime, his continued engagement in violence while in custody, and his inability to follow rules while incarcerated demonstrates that Frederick poses a significant danger to the community and should not be released.