No parole for sniper who hated Mondays

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parole for sniper who hated Mondays

She killed 2, wounded 9 in '79 San spree

ANNE KRUEGER

Staff Writer

22-Jan-1993 Friday

CORONA -- Spencer, who has been imprisoned since she killed two

people and wounded

nine others in a 1979 San schoolyard shooting, was turned down

yesterday for a chance

at parole.

Spencer, 30, did not appear before the three-member Board of Prison Terms

panel considering

her first opportunity for parole from the Frontera women's prison. But she

said in a written

statement that she plans to file a legal challenge to her conviction on two

murder charges

and one of assault with a deadly weapon, contending that authorities

conspired against her.

Spencer pleaded guilty to the charges in October 1979, just as her trial was

to begin, and

was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Spencer, then 16, fired a volley of bullets from her house toward the

Cleveland Elementary

School playground Jan. 29, 1979. She told a reporter who called her during

the 6 1/2 -hour

siege that she opened fire because, " I don't like Mondays. This livens up

the day. "

The shooting attracted worldwide attention, and an Irish rock group, the

Boomtown Rats,

wrote a song titled " I Don't Like Mondays. "

In her statement yesterday, Spencer claimed for the first time that she had

been under the

influence of drugs and alcohol when she opened fire.

She also contended that police, prosecutors and her defense attorney

conspired to fabricate

laboratory test results that revealed no drugs in her system after she

surrendered to

police.

She alleged she was given mind-altering drugs for two years after her arrest

and did not

realize until a few months ago that she had signed an agreement to plead

guilty to

first-degree murder.

" People who saw me say I was a zombie (during her court hearings), " Spencer

said in her

statement. " I said what they told me to say, I did what they told me to do. "

Spencer said in her statement that she is active in a prison group of about

50 women who

contend that they were given mind-altering drugs while they were jailed

awaiting trial.

She said she plans to file a federal civil rights suit and is seeking help

from state

legislators and members of Congress.

Both former prosecutor , who is now a Municipal Court judge,

and Spencer's

attorney, McGlinn, vehemently denied that any evidence was hidden in

her case.

" It's just absolute nonsense, " said. " There was never any indication

that any test

results were in any way falsified. "

McGlinn, who wrote a letter on Spencer's behalf that was read at yesterday's

hearing, said

Spencer was trying to challenge her conviction because she realized that the

state Board of

Prison Terms is not giving parole dates to prisoners. He said Spencer got

the best defense

he could give her.

" It obviously was a tragic case, but we couldn't do any better than we did, "

McGlinn said.

" She got our fullest attention. "

Spencer's claims, outlined in the statement read by Jallins, an El

Cajon lawyer who

represented her at the hearing, elicited little sympathy from members of the

parole board.

Former state senator Nielsen, the chairman of the board, said Spencer

had somewhat

recognized her responsibility for the crime, but said, " That acknowledgement

is woven in a

web of denial, excuse and blame-claiming. "

The board members -- Nielsen, former El Cajon state assemblywoman Carol

Bentley and former

San Diego Police Department assistant chief Manny Guaderrama -- said Spencer

would have to

wait three years before she would again be considered for parole.

Spencer opened fire from her house on Lake Atlin Avenue across the street

from the school

at 8:30 a.m., just as students were heading into their classes from the

playground.

Principal Burton Wragg, 53, was killed, and Mike Suchar, 56, the school's

head custodian

was shot in the chest and killed when he ran to help Wragg. Eight children

were wounded as

they ran for cover, and a police officer was wounded in the neck.

Authorities drove a trash disposal truck between Spencer's house and the

school to block

her line of fire. After hours of negotiations with police, Spencer

surrendered. Police

found a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle and about 40 expended shells in her

home.

Daryl , who was a teacher at Cleveland Elementary, saw Spencer's

bullets hit and kill

Wragg and Suchar. He also brought a wounded child into the school while

screaming for

someone to call police.

, who did not attend the hearing, said Spencer should never be

released from prison.

" Everybody makes mistakes and should be forgiven, but to me it's a capital

crime, " said

, who is now a fifth-grade teacher at Hancock Elementary School in

Tierrasanta. " If

the sentence is 25 years, she shouldn't be paroled until the 25 years are

up. "

Spencer contended in her statement to the parole board that she is

remorseful for the crime

but said she is not guilty of murder because she was under the influence of

alcohol and the

hallucinogenic drug PCP.

" I live with the unbearable pain every day of knowing that I was responsible

for the death

of two people and caused many others physical and emotional pain and

suffering, " Spencer

said in the statement. " But I'm not a murderer. "

She said that while under the influence of the drugs, she started to

hallucinate and saw

commando types in paramilitary gear advance toward her house. She said she

barricaded

herself in and started shooting, using the rifle her father had given her

for Christmas.

She also said she doubts whether the victims were hit by bullets from her

rifle, contending

that they might have been shot by police and that police officers lied in

court about how

many shots they fired.

While in prison, Spencer has graduated from high school and taken college

courses and

vocational courses in electronics. She has had only minor disciplinary

problems.

Deputy District Attorney Dave Berry urged the Board of Prison Terms members

not to grant

parole for Spencer, citing her lack of remorse and indications that she had

planned the

shootings days before they occurred.

While the board members deliberated for 35 minutes on their decision in

Spencer's case, she

could be seen in a small room next to the board's hearing room. Wearing

glasses and with

her red hair in a short punkish cut, she appeared much like her pictures

following her 1979

arrest.

None of the victims of Spencer's shooting spree appeared at yesterday's

hearing. Those

contacted by a reporter said they did not know about the hearing and said

officials had

not told them it was scheduled.

Wragg's widow, Kathe, said she hopes Spencer never gets out of prison.

" I could never feel trustworthy of a person like that, " Wragg said. " Just

the idea that she

felt she had to kill somebody. It's so self-serving and inward. I would

never want her to

be out. I have not seen any remorse. "

Wragg, who never remarried, said she is constantly reminded of her husband's

death.

" This is always on my mind. You never forget, " she said. " It did a lot to

our family. "

Norman Buell's daughter, Christy, was 9 when she was hit twice by bullets

fired by Spencer.

Buell, who works with troubled adolescents in a group home, said he would

have no objection

to Spencer being paroled from prison. He cited Spencer's youth at the time

of the shooting

and his belief that Spencer was abused.

" Those things put together are not a good chemical mix and I could see where

it would

happen, " Norman Buell said. " I personally would say that she's served her

sentence. "

Christy Buell, now 23, works at a daycare center in San . Buell said

one child who

was enrolled at the center was the offspring of Spencer's father,

Wallace, and his

present wife, who was Spencer's 17-year-old cellmate when she was

being held at

Juvenile Hall.

Wallace Spencer still lives in the same house across the street from the

former Cleveland

Elementary School, which is now the home of San Diego Hebrew Day School. He

refused to

comment when contacted by a reporter.