Man Who Killed Girl, 15, in 1962 Is Denied Parole

VACAVILLE, Calif. — Parole again was denied Thursday for Booker T. Hillery, twice convicted of the scissors slaying of a teen-age Hanford girl 31 years ago.

Unlike previous hearings for Hillery, a three-member Board of Prison Terms panel did not receive a massive petition this time from Hanford residents opposed to parole. More than 10,000 signatures appeared on previous petitions, but community observers said many of those who remember the case are dead, and Hanford has tripled in size since the 1962 killing.

However, a tape made for a previous hearing by members of the family of the victim, Marlene Miller, was offered again.

Hillery, now 62, has been convicted twice of the March, 1962, slaying of the 15-year-old girl. A ranch hand with a previous rape record, Hillery won a new trial from the U.S. Supreme Court in 1986 on grounds that blacks were systematically excluded from the grand jury that indicted him.

A new trial resulted in a first-degree murder conviction, but Hillery became eligible for a parole hearing immediately because of the nearly 25 years he had spent in custody.