An appeals court has overturned a judge’s 2019 ruling to release the “Bolder Than Most” rapist in Jacumba Hot Springs, saying he applied the incorrect standard.
Public safety is one of the most important factors in deciding whether to release former Paradise Hills resident Alvin Quarles, now 57, wrote 4th District Court of Appeal Justice Richard Huffman.
Concurring with Huffman were Justices Judith Haller and Terry O’Rourke in the February 24 ruling.
However, they sent Quarles’ case back to San Diego Superior Court Judge David Gill for Quarles to possibly try again with a new conditional release petition.
The courts are mostly closed due to the coronavirus outbreak but a status conference was set for May 1 before Gill.
Gill, who is in his 80’s, is the longest serving Superior Court judge in the county, having been appointed in 1978.
Quarles remains at Coalinga State Hospital where he was transferred in 2014 after his 50-year prison term was considered served after serving half of it.
The law under which Quarles was sentenced in 1989 has since changed. Another judge determined in 2014 he was a sexually violent predator (SVP). Quarles first petitioned for release in 2016.
The appeals court criticized Gill for saying “I hope we are not setting him (Quarles) up for failure,” with Huffman writing “these comments give us pause.”
“I think he has earned the right to take the next step, and I’ll say in my old experience, I am impressed with the diligent professional manner in which Conrep will manage him in the community,” said Gill.
Huffman wrote that “failure, after being conditionally released, would be devastating not only for Quarles, but more importantly, the public.”
“Quarles is a serial rapist whose crimes were shockingly brutal and destructive,” wrote Huffman. “If he fails after he is conditionally released, considering his past, we shudder to contemplate the consequences of such a failure.”
County Supervisor Dianne Jacob praised the ruling and said Quarles should not be released. The District Attorney’s office opposed his release.
Gill closed some of the proceedings to the press, public, and victims. Quarles was brought down from Coalinga and testified behind closed doors.
Quarles told Gill he would not sexually assault anyone if conditionally released and said he understood why he committed the crimes in his 20s, according to the opinion.
Quarles testified he has become devout in his religion and had obtained certificates to help him earn a living if he is released, the ruling says.
Two hospital psychologists testified that Quarles still suffers from a mental disorder and could reoffend. The overseer of Liberty Healthcare, the agency that runs the SVP program, testified Quarles was not suitable for release.
Quarles was dubbed the “Bolder Than Most” rapist because he attacked women in the presence of their partners, sometimes at knifepoint.
He pleaded guilty to committing four rapes, two robberies, and six counts of burglaries. Dozens of other charges were then dismissed with the understanding he would get 50 years.
