Reali faced long odds in asking Parole Board to free her

Jennifer Reali faced long odds in asking to be paroled this week after serving more than 20 years in prison for the killing of her lover’s wife in 1990.

Of the 83,800 inmates who appeared before the Colorado Parole Board from 2004 to 2008, only 11,100 were released from prison, according to a state audit report.

That amounts to a 13 percent chance of being released early when the decision is up to the Parole Board and not a mandatory condition of sentencing.

Reali was denied after a hearing at the Women’s Correctional Facility in Denver before two members of the Parole Board. The 49-year-old will have to wait until 2016 before she can again request a parole hearing.

Reali was convicted of shooting Dianne Hood outside the Otis Park Community Center in September 1990 as Hood left a lupus support meeting. Dressed in camouflage fatigues and wearing a ski mask, Reali ambushed Hood, making a grab for her bag to make it look like a botched robbery attempt before shooting her two times.

She was sentenced to life for the murder. Hood’s husband, Brian, got 37 years in prison for planning the murder and persuading Reali to pull the trigger.

Reali became eligible for parole this year when outgoing Gov. Bill Ritter commuted her sentence in January to bring it more in line with Brian Hood’s punishment.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Reali tearfully apologized for her crime, saying she was not the same person who had been talked into a heinous act. Her parents were at her side, offering her a home and a job if she were released.

Her request for clemency and consideration for parole was supported by the trial judge, the detective who arrested her and Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, the district attorney who convicted her.

The lawyer who defended her, Elvin L. Gentry, said Thursday he doesn’t know what else Reali had to do to earn a second chance.

“When you are eligible for parole, I guess the lesson is ‘fat chance,” Gentry said.

Parole Board Chairman Anthony Young said the board took several factors into consideration in Reali’s case, including the seriousness of the crime, the inmate’s prison record and the testimony of the victim’s relatives.

“In Colorado, the impact that crimes have on victims is something that the parole board takes seriously into account,” Young said.

Dianne Hood’s brother, David Moore, opposed parole and wrote a letter read at the hearing asking that Reali be kept in prison for life.

“Now that the years have gone by, she and some people see her as no longer a threat. She seeks early release to enjoy the rest of her life, making hollow promises that she will not kill again,” Moore wrote. “Would you bet your family’s life on the promise of a woman that has the choice not to kill but chose to shoot anyway? She will always be a threat and to think otherwise is folly.”

Christie Donner, executive director of the prison reform advocacy group Colorado Criminal Justice Coalition, said Thursday that Reali would have been the rare exception if she had won parole.

“The majority of people are serving their entire sentence and are not released early on parole,” Donner said. “There’s a legitimate question as to why that is.”

The answer, according to Donner, is that parole boards are afraid of the backlash if a parolee re-offends.

One of the most notorious examples involves Willie Horton, a convicted murderer who never returned to prison after being released under a weekend furlough program. While a fugitive, he committed a robbery and rape, and his case was used in an attack ad against the 1988 Democratic presidential candidate, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.

 “The easiest thing to do is to say ‘no’,” Donner said. “You will rarely have a newspaper headline with a parole board member’s name or the governor’s name in it if they are required to complete their full sentence.”

Gentry agreed.

“I think when you get into violent crimes, homicides, sexual assault on children and those things I think probably the modern-day zeitgeist  is, well, ‘we’re not going to take a chance.’”

Young said the board must weigh giving the inmate a chance at parole with protecting public safety.

“We look at all factors, but we definitely look at individuals who are low-risk, are nonviolent and are more likely to be able to transition back into the community with the least amount of supervision,” he said.

Gentry, who has been Reali’s lawyer for two decades, said Thursday that Reali should have been released under those criteria.

“I think she’s been as close to a model prisoner as she can be,” he said. “I think this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime horrible events that does happen. I don’t know of any reason why Jenny shouldn’t be transitioned back into society.”

Even though he’s disappointed, he’s not giving up on getting her out of prison.

“I’m not quitting,” he said. “I’m going to keep trying.”

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Contact the writer at 636-0274.