(Woodland, CA) – April 30, 2020- On April 29, 2020, a three-commissioner panel of the Board of Parole Hearings denied parole to 37-year-old Eric Chase who was sentenced to prison for 20 years in 2008. The hearing took place at California State Solano in Vacaville, CA.
In the early morning hours of November 18, 2004, Chase and another man went to the Davis home of Dennis Thrower. Neighbors heard voices and multiple gunshots, and the police were called. When they arrived minutes later, Thrower was found dead in the open doorway of his apartment. The apartment had been ransacked, possibly from a burglary the previous night. Chase went to a hospital in Sacramento with gunshot wounds and told the police he had been shot during a street robbery in Sacramento. However, his blood was found at the crime scene in Thrower’s apartment, and he was later arrested. During the investigation, Chase refused to identify the other man who went to the apartment with him, and no other arrests were made in connection with the killing.
On March 13, 2008, Chase pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter, robbery, and use of a firearm and a Yolo County judge sentenced him to 20 years in state prison.
At the parole hearing, the commissioners stated that Chase would still pose a continued risk to public safety should he be released from prison. The commissioners cited Chase’s continued patterns of crimes and violations in prison, as well as his lack of genuine remorse for the killing of Dennis Thrower.
Yolo County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Garrett Hamilton represented the Yolo District Attorney’s Office at the hearing by video conference, due to the COVID-19 crisis.
District Attorney Jeff Reisig commented on the parole denial: “Our office is committed to representing the interests of victims’ families and public safety at these parole hearings, and when it’s appropriate we argue against the release of inmates who are a danger to the public.”
Chase will be eligible for parole again in 2023.
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