Rainsberger making 20th attempt at parole

Tuesday, May 30, 2000 | 11:39 a.m.

The state Parole Board said Tuesday that Rainsberger, 64, recently made his 20th appearance before the panel and was tentatively approved for release despite opposition from the victim's son.

Rainsberger has been in prison since March 1959 for the murder of Erline Folker. His release was opposed by Edward Folker, who says his mother's killer should stay behind bars for the rest of his life.

The release would be allowed only if Rainsberger is accepted in a residential program in Ohio. He tried the same thing in 1993, but the parole was rescinded after a halfway house in San Francisco decided against accepting him.

In 1972, Rainsberger's death penalty was commuted to life in prison without possible parole because of a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court invalidating capital punishment laws. The state Pardons Board in 1977 agreed to cut the sentence again so Rainsberger could eventually seek parole.

The Parole Board also eased the sentence of Philip Tomarchio Jr., 51, who was imprisoned in 1980 for killing an off-duty prison guard in Las Vegas.

Tomarchio was paroled from his murder sentence in 1996. The board's latest action was to parole him from a 7 1/2 -year-term for attempted robbery to another 7 1/2 -year term for using a deadly weapon.

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