SAN DIEGO, Calif. (CNS) — Two prison inmates serving life sentences for high-profile San Diego County crimes -- one dubbed the "Del Mar Rapist" and another convicted of murdering a stepfather -- were denied parole Wednesday.
Robert Dean Rustad, who is serving a 326-years-to-life prison sentence for raping multiple women between 1992 and 1996, and Aerith Asora, who was convicted along with a sister of killing local attorney Timothy MacNeil, were eligible for early parole hearings due to recent changes to state law.
Those law changes altered the parole eligibility for inmates who are 50 years of age or older and have served at least 20 years, as well as inmates who were under the age of 25 when they committed the crime.
On Wednesday, Rustad was denied parole for a three-year period, while Asora was denied parole for five years.
Rustad, who was between 19 and 22 years old at the time of the rapes, was denied youthful parole last year and is no longer eligible to receive it.
Wednesday's hearing was granted pursuant to the elder parole law because Rustad is 51 years old and has spent over 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors said he broke into seven women's homes, then sexually assaulted or raped six of them, with some of the victims tied up and threatened at knifepoint.
Asora was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, but received an expedited parole hearing under the youthful parole law for being 19 years old at the time of the murder.
Prosecutors said Asora and sibling Brae Hansen staged their stepfather's 2007 killing as a home invasion robbery, during which Asora shot MacNeil four times. Hansen was denied parole earlier this year.
The San Diego County District Attorney's Office, which opposed both inmates' release, said in a statement that nearly 70% of parole hearings it handled last year were a result of the elder and/or youthful parole laws.
"In many cases, new parole laws in California have undone the reassurance to murder and rape victims of justly imposed lengthy sentences and the promise of protection of our communities," District Attorney Summer Stephan said.
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