California governor denies parole for 1979 murder accomplice
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown has denied parole for one of four men convicted in the 1979 killing of a Modesto couple.
A parole panel recommended in December that 57-year-old Ronald Ray Anderson be freed nearly four decades after the slayings of Phillip and Kathryn Ranzo.
Brown said Monday that Anderson cannot be safely released back into society.
Anderson stayed outside the home while three friends hog-tied the Ranzos, beat them and finally stabbed them to death. One raped Kathryn Ranzo while the other two ransacked the house and stole $2,000.
Brown calls the crime "merciless." He says Anderson voluntarily went along with his friends even though he knew they were dangerous.