| For Immediate Release
October 31, 2012 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
|
PAROLE DENIED THREE YEARS FOR INMATE WHO ROBBED AND MURDERED GAS STATION ATTENDANT AND ACCESSORY TO STABBING-MURDER
SANTA ANA – The Board of Parole Hearings, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations (Board) denied parole for three years today for an inmate who robbed and murdered a gas station attendant with a hatchet and was an accessory in the stabbing death of an Orange County teacher in 1970. Arthur Craig Hulse, 58, is currently being held at the California Medical Facility, Vacaville. Hulse was found guilty by a jury March 1, 1971, of first degree murder after pleading guilty to the charge of accessory for murder. The case was originally prosecuted by then Deputy District Attorney Joe Heneghan. Hulse will be eligible for his next parole hearing in 2015.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Paul Odwald appeared at the hearing today to oppose parole.
Circumstances of 1970 Murders
On June 1, 1970, then-16-year-old Hulse had run away from home to seek membership in a gang led by co-defendant 20-year-old Steven Hurd. The gang was staying at a motel when Hurd suggested they commit an armed robbery. Hulse grabbed a hatchet from the room and the defendants drove to a gas station in Santa Ana shortly after midnight on June 2, 1970. Hulse and Hurd entered the gas station and told 20-year-old gas station attendant, Jerry Wayne Carlin, that they were robbing him. The victim gave Hulse approximately $40 before the defendants tied him up. When Carlin begged not to be harmed, Hulse became infuriated and struck Carlin in the chest with the hatchet. Hulse repeatedly struck the victim in the head until he felt the victim’s skull cave in.
At approximately 12:00 p.m., June 2, 1970, Hulse’s co-defendants attempted to steal a car. Hurd stopped 31-year-old high school teacher, Florence Nancy Brown, in her car and ordered her to move over while threatening her with a knife. As the car was being driven away, Hurd drove the knife into the back of Brown’s neck and stabbed her multiple times. Hulse and the other co-defendants buried the victim’s body in a remote area off Ortega Highway. Investigators later found Brown’s mutilated body buried, with her right arm, right breast, heart, and both lungs removed.
Continued Threat to Public Safety and Lack of Programming Progress
During Hulse’s 40-year span of incarceration, he has failed to make any significant efforts towards progress and has only recently begun programming toward rehabilitative efforts. At the hearing today, the Board addressed Hulse’s lack of rehabilitation focusing on gang activity and determined he has not gained significant insight regarding his involvement in the crime.
Based on his lack of progress during incarceration, the inmate’s release would have been a substantial threat to public safety had he been released.