After 38 years in prison, Rainsberger denied parole

Friday, Oct. 16, 1998 | 11:30 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Jack Rainsberger, who has spent 38 years in prison for the murder of a Las Vegas woman, has been denied parole for the 19th time.

"This is a very tough case," said Cordelia Dunfield, a member of the state Parole Board, which announced its decision Thursday. She said Rainsberger, 63, "behaves very well in prison."

But the board denied his parole request, said Parole Board Chairman Tom Patton, because of Rainsberger's criminal history and the severity of the crime.

Rainsberger will have to wait 18 months before he can re-apply. He has served more time in the Nevada prison than any other inmate except one.

Rainsberger did not present a plan to the board on what he intended to do, if released. Dunfield said Rainsberger wanted to see the action of the board before developing his future plans. But he said he would try to get into a Salvation Army program somewhere.

In 1993, the board agreed to release Rainsberger to Delancy Street Foundation in San Francisco, a halfway house treatment center. But Delancy Street decided not to accept Rainsberger, and his parole never took effect.

Rainsberger was originally sentenced to death for the killing of Erline Folker in a parking lot in Las Vegas in 1958. Before the sentence was carried out, however, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned capital punishment laws in the states. So in December 1972 his term was reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In April 1977, the state Pardons Board commuted the term to allow him to apply for parole.

Edward Folker, son of the victim, appeared at the parole board hearing 10 days ago, and as he has done in the past, opposed Rainsberger's release. He said Thursday he was happy with the parole board's decision, but wondered about the 18-month waiting period.

The last time the board denied Rainsberger, there was a three-year waiting period, Folker said. Eighteen months, "That's a strange period of time," he said. "They (the board) must be trying to wear me down. That's won't happen."

Folker is seeking a personal meeting with Rainsberger. "I want to get some questions answered in my own head," he said. Under a new format at the hearings, witnesses cannot talk to each other.