SAN JOSE \u2014 In an emotional hearing in which the surviving siblings of Rosellina LoBue screamed at a judge \u2014 boiling over so much that her brother had a medical emergency that cleared the courtroom \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
The resentencing Friday in Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Robert Hawk\u2019s courtroom marked prosecutors\u2019 second attempt to push through an agreement with 61-year-old Erik Chatman<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n The net result of Hawk\u2019s ruling is that Chatman, who had already been taken off death row by a 2024 resentencing initiative<\/a> headed by District Attorney Jeff Rosen, will see his current life-without-parole sentence reduced to a 25 years-to-life term.\u00a0Considering 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.<\/p>\n LoBue\u2019s siblings, who were children when Chatman stabbed the 18-year-old LoBue 51 times at a San Jose drive-up photo kiosk, see Chatman\u2019s release as a virtual certainty.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sick of this. I don\u2019t know how many times I have to say this is wrong,\u201d Tony LoBue, the victim\u2019s surviving brother, said to Hawk earlier on in the hearing Friday.<\/p>\n In another exchange, as Hawk looked to convey sympathy for the family, he said, \u201cthis is a difficult case,\u201d to which Tony LoBue immediately responded, his voice rising, \u201cYou\u2019re wrong! This is not a difficult case!\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is b\u2014\u2014-!\u201d Tony LoBue yelled. \u201cWhat is wrong with you? He\u2019s going to be out! He\u2019s going to do it again!\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Rosen\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s two-and-half-year-old son was on hand when the deadly attack occurred.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n