Not even two decades into his 90-year sentence, Kyle Douglas Frank, known as the Freeway Shooter, is set to be released on parole. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Board of Parole Hearings initially decided on Frank's early parole back in April, which prompted significant opposition from the District Attorney's Office. As outlined by a recent article published by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, the Parole Board has now affirmed that decision after a review.
Frank's early parole comes after serving just 14 years of the substantial sentence for his 2009 shootings that targeted individuals based on ethnicity. Despite a letter from the District Attorney’s Office and the victims' opposition, the Board has chosen to firmly stand by their initial decision. In an en banc review, which the Governor requested, the Board convened on August 20, and, absent support for the convicted, upheld Frank’s parole.
According to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office report, the shootings that took place over three weeks targeted Hispanic and African American victims specifically. On one occasion, an African American male was shot at while driving on Interstate 80 after Frank had hurled racial slurs at him. On another, a Hispanic woman and her children became targets as they drove. In total, eight individuals faced Frank's attempt on their lives purely because of their race.
The sequence of Frank's legal recourse saw motion after motion, appeal after appeal to overturn his conviction fall to denial. Notably, Frank also exhibited violence within prison, aligning himself with a white prison gang by assaulting inmates. Despite these actions, and the strong opposition from the DA's office, the parole board opted to, rather surprisingly, confirm his early release. "This decision undermines the criminal justice system by overriding the 90-year sentence imposed in this case and places a dangerous inmate back into our community," District Attorney Thien Ho said in a firm statement against the board's action. This quote, and the details surrounding the parole decision and Frank's crimes, were detailed in the aforementioned article by the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office.
