SAN JOSE — In an emotional hearing in which the surviving siblings of Rosellina LoBue screamed at a judge — boiling over so much that her brother had a medical emergency that cleared the courtroom — the man who once sat on death row for viciously stabbing LoBue to death nearly 40 years ago was resentenced and made eligible for parole.
The resentencing Friday in Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Robert Hawk’s courtroom marked prosecutors’ second attempt to push through an agreement with 61-year-old Erik Chatman that preserves his first-degree murder conviction but drops a special circumstance allegation for torture. They wanted to head off the prospect of a new trial, which became a stronger possibility in recent years after Chatman claimed racial prejudice tainted his original 1993 trial.
The net result of Hawk’s ruling is that Chatman, who had already been taken off death row by a 2024 resentencing initiative headed by District Attorney Jeff Rosen, will see his current life-without-parole sentence reduced to a 25 years-to-life term. Considering that Chatman has been in prison for 33 years to this point, he will immediately become eligible for parole, though whether he will be released in the near future has yet to be decided by a state parole board.
LoBue’s siblings, who were children when Chatman stabbed the 18-year-old LoBue 51 times at a San Jose drive-up photo kiosk, see Chatman’s release as a virtual certainty.
“I’m sick of this. I don’t know how many times I have to say this is wrong,” Tony LoBue, the victim’s surviving brother, said to Hawk earlier on in the hearing Friday.
In another exchange, as Hawk looked to convey sympathy for the family, he said, “this is a difficult case,” to which Tony LoBue immediately responded, his voice rising, “You’re wrong! This is not a difficult case!”
At one point, after Hawk signaled that he was going ahead with the resentencing despite the impassioned remarks, which also came from Marie LoBue Peterson, Tony LoBue unleashed a torrent of criticism at the judge and prosecutors on hand.
“This is b——-!” Tony LoBue yelled. “What is wrong with you? He’s going to be out! He’s going to do it again!”
He was escorted by friends out of the courtroom but returned after a court break. But as Hawk resumed outlining the resentencing, LoBue began experiencing shortness of breath that prompted bailiffs to clear the courtroom and summon medics. LoBue was cleared and insisted on seeing the hearing through.
Rosen’s office sought the same resentencing outcome in December, but was rebuffed by Judge Eric Geffon, who noted that racial prejudice claims about the 1993 trial were unproven and that the resentencing agreement was effectively a pre-conviction plea deal mismatched with the post-conviction status of the case.
Chatman admitted to stabbing Rosellina LoBue, who worked with his then-wife at a Photo Drive-Up in San Jose, on Oct. 7, 1987, reportedly after a strained conversation about his personal life. She was stabbed 51 times; authorities said Chatman’s two-and-half-year-old son was on hand when the deadly attack occurred.
He was arrested in 1990 in Houston after being linked to the killing. Later trial testimony established that after the killing, Chatman was seen back home in East Palo Alto with his young son in a bathtub, both of them washing off blood from their bodies.
In court filings leading up to Friday’s hearing, prosecutors led by Deputy District Attorney Alexandra Gadeberg reiterated their position that Chatman’s trial was rife with “colorable” claims of racial prejudice in likely violation of the Racial Justice Act, which became law five years ago but applies to Chatman because his case is still in appeal. His recent RJA petitions specifically targeted repeated references at trial about his crack cocaine addiction, including claims that the $500 he took from the cash register after the killing was spent on buying more of the drug to use with his wife and mother-in-law.
The agreement approved by Hawk on Friday heads off what prosecutors described as the risk of the conviction being vacated by a higher court, and the subsequent prospect of a new trial that hinges on records, evidence, and witness availability blunted by the passing of four decades.
The district attorney’s office referenced those challenges in a statement to this news organization after the Friday court hearing.
“Our hearts and respect go out to the family. This case was extremely tragic and legally difficult,” the statement reads. “The disposition to resentence the defendant to 25 years to life in prison was, in our estimation, the best option.”
James McManis, a veteran San Jose attorney representing the LoBue family, said in court that he saw no reason for Hawk to rush to a decision given that the California Supreme Court will soon be evaluating a group of RJA cases addressing the legal harm of reputed violations, and to wait for the outcome for clear direction.
If a new trial became warranted, he said, he cited Geffon’s ruling in saying that would be the appropriate time for prosecutors to strike a deal with Chatman. Hawk responded by saying he would not delay the resentencing, saying the Supreme Court case had no material effect on his decision.
McManis and Peterson also pushed back on the idea that the prospect of a retrial, should the case be thrown out on RJA grounds, would be as formidable as the prosecution characterized.
“He confessed to everything he did,” McManis said. “I don’t think that would be a very long trial.”
Peterson added in separate remarks: “Give me a new trial. I don’t care. I’m boiling here. My sister needs justice.”
One of the newer matters that arose since the December hearing were records of Chatman’s time in prison — which Geffon noted were absent when he made his earlier ruling — showing Chatman had no rule violations in the past 20 years and that he had the lowest possible classification score regarding his current threat risk. Peterson scoffed at the assessment, arguing that Chatman’s time in prison was in a controlled environment that cannot be replicated if he were to be released.
Several times during and after the hearing, the LoBue siblings recalled a conversation with Rosen in which the DA reputedly assured them that resentencing Chatman off death row would still mean he would die in prison.
Rosen made similar comments to this news organization at the time he announced his policy initiative. His office did not comment on a question about those remarks Friday.
After the hearing, Tony LoBue, as he did in December when the outcome favored his family, promised he would continue fighting for his late sister.
“This fight isn’t over,” he said after Friday’s hearing. “We’re not the only victims here … We’re not fighting just for us. We’re fighting for everybody.”