ROHNERT PARK MAN CONVICTED OF 1St DEGREE MURDER DENIED PAROLE FOR 8TH TIME

Following a hearing this afternoon, the California Board of Parole Hearings denied parole for the 8^th time to 61-year-old Dale Wesley Hayes, who was convicted of the 1^st degree murder of his father, Elton Hayes, in 1983.

District Attorney Rodriguez stated, “This inmate clearly would pose a significant danger to the community were he to be released at this time. We are pleased that the Board reviewed the record and listened to the arguments we made today in opposition to release.”

In August of 1983, Inmate Dale Hayes wanted money and told three persons, “If I kill my father, I could have the trailer and the car.” The following month on Sept 9, 1983, Hayes spoke with his father and asked him for cash. His father, Elton Hayes, agreed to the request and arranged to have his son meet him at his trailer home.  Hayes knew that earlier that day, his father had been paid from his job. Hayes arrived at his father’s trailer and upon doing so, found his father to be asleep in the bedroom. Hayes grabbed a knife, entered the bedroom, and stabbed his father in the chest 13 times, killing him. As Hayes heard his father’s labored breathing, he reached under his father’s pillow and took his cash.

Hayes was subsequently convicted of the 1^st degree premeditated murder of his father.

On January 31, 2023, a hearing was held at the California Department of Corrections, California State Prison Folsom, to determine whether Hayes currently remains an unreasonable risk of harm to the public, or whether he should be released back into the community on a grant of parole. After taking testimony from Hayes, reviewing prison and psychiatric evaluations, and hearing arguments from both Hayes’s attorney and the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office, the California Board of Prison Terms issued a 3-year denial of parole. In deciding to deny parole, the Board noted Hayes’s conduct during the hearing (when pressed about his insight into the murder, Hayes became frustrated and angry, and abruptly stood up and walked out of the hearing) as a significant factor in its decision. The Board noted that this conduct showed that Hayes not only lacked sufficient insight into why the murder occurred, but also that he had not resolved his anger about past events. Hayes will not be eligible for parole again until 2026, at which time another hearing will occur.

Deputy District Attorney Jamie Kandel appeared at the hearing in opposition to Hayes’s release on parole.