Serial freeway shooter to be released. Sacramento DA says parole ruling ‘undermines’ justice
A man sentenced to 90 years in prison for a series of Sacramento freeway shootings was granted an early release by the Board of Parole Hearings panel this week after 14 years served.
Kyle Douglas Frank, 37, of Roseville was convicted in 2011 of eight counts of attempted murder and enhancements for shooting at Black and Latino victims on capital region freeways including Interstate 80 and Interstate 5. He was granted parole by the Board of Parole Hearings on April 10, but the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to intervene.
Newsom’s office referred the decision to the full parole board, containing 21 commissioners appointed by the governor, for another review July 19. A hearing was held Tuesday during which the full parole board upheld Frank’s release.
Frank will be processed for release, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He served 14 years, or 15% of his sentence, Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho said in a statement.
“This decision undermines the criminal justice system by overriding the 90-year sentence imposed in this case and places a dangerous inmate back into our community,” Ho said.
It was not immediately clear why the panel approved Frank’s release. A CDCR spokesperson did not immediately give a response.
Frank’s shooting spree stretched from August 2009 until September 2009. Forensic analysis linked Frank’s .25-caliber Beretta semi-automatic handgun to the shootings, prosecutors said.
In one September 2009 incident, Osiris Esparza and her aunt Monica Esparza headed home from ballet class in Natomas. Frank began yelling at Monica Esparza after she unintentionally cut him off on eastbound I-80.
He accelerated and decelerated “in a way that prevented the victims’ vehicle from exiting the freeway,” prosecutors said. Frank fired multiple shots that struck Osiris Esparza, who was 18 at the time, in the leg. Other bullets pierced her headrest and the seats where her children would have been buckled in.
Defense attorney Paul Irish told The Sacramento Bee in 2011 that his client “was just really drunk” and also was using cocaine when he went on his freeway shooting sprees.
“He was depressed because he lost his job, lost his girlfriend and had to move back in with his father,” Irish said after the jury handed down a verdict. “He just reacted.”
Frank is currently being held at California Medical Facility in Vacaville. While in prison, Frank assaulted two inmates, prosecutors said in the statement. He also attempted to file motions to vacate his conviction, all of which were denied.