Petaluma man convicted in 2002 slaying of wife considered for parole

A former Petaluma contractor serving a 23-years-to-life prison sentence for the 2002 slaying of his wife is due to appear before the California Board of Parole Hearings this month, where a panel will determine if he should be released.

Michael DeLongis, now 57, was sentenced by a Sonoma County judge to 15 years-to-life in prison for the death of his wife, Kimberly DeLongis, in addition to eight years for spousal abuse.

DeLongis told dispatchers his wife had fallen down the stairs of their Petaluma home, though he later confessed to shoving her down a flight of stairs and strangling her with his hands after becoming angry, police said.

The pair had argued about his drinking and Kimberly DeLongis, a 46 year-old businesswoman and mother of two adult children from a prior marriage, said she wanted a divorce the morning of her death, police said.

In his years behind bars, DeLongis has graduated from the Coastline Community College, got remarried and was certified in literary Braille through a program at the Ironwood State Prison, according to a 2014 recorded TED Talk he participated in.

On Feb. 26, a panel made up of California Board of Parole Hearings commissioners will consider for the first time since his sentencing whether DeLongis poses an unreasonable risk of danger to others if released from custody.

They’ll weigh factors such as his criminal history, his past and current attitude about the crime, his behavior while in custody, as well as his statements, those made by his wife’s family and the prosecutor who handled the case, according to the California Department of Corrections, which oversees the parole board.

The hearing will be held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“He’s been an exemplary inmate,” said Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch, who prosecuted the case and intends to attend the Feb. 26 parole hearing. “The question is, is he ready for release?”

Thora Collard, DeLongis’ stepdaughter, was 24 years old when her mother Kimberly was killed. She plans to attend the Feb. 26 hearing to tell the panel she did not want to see DeLongis paroled, Collard said.

Part of her decision to oppose his release had to do with the lasting pain of losing her mother, who looked forward to the day she would become a grandmother, said Collard, now the mother of three children and an administrative manager for Zero Waste Sonoma.

Prior to her death, Kimberly DeLongis had a rental property business, Collard said. She loved animals and was well-known locally as the owner of Petaluma’s only bowling alley, Boulevard Bowl.

The handful of letters DeLongis has sent Collard over the years have talked about his desire to repair their family and his sobriety while in prison, Collard said. They have never directly addressed his role in her mother’s death, she said.

“There’s a lot of people who are easy to forgive and think of the redemption value of being incarcerated,” Collard said. “But I think in order to be redeemed, you have to apologize for what happened.”

DeLongis, who is being held at Vacaville’s California Medical Facility, could not be reached for comment about the parole hearing despite repeated phone and email requests last week made through his wife.

During a TED Talk recorded at the Ironwood State Prison in Riverside County in 2014, DeLongis talked about how a lack of guidance and alcoholism derailed his life.

“I didn’t have a plan in the past, and that was part of my problem,” he said.

He stopped drinking for the first time when he was booked into the county jail and focused his attention to earning two associate degrees, he said.

He was also admitted to a prison work program reserved for inmates with good behavior that trained and paid them to make college textbooks for the visually impaired.

“I’m a transformed man forever,” DeLongis said at the end of his talk.

Ravitch, the county’s district attorney, said she vividly remembered the case, having gone to the home were Kimberly DeLongis was killed the day of her death.

The case was unusual to her because the suspects in domestic violence-related homicides typically have some history of prior abuse, though DeLongis had none, she said.

After reviewing information about DeLongis’ parole hearing, sent to her in advance of Feb. 26, Ravitch said she commended DeLongis’ accomplishments while incarcerated, though she was not convinced DeLongis is ready to be released.

“I haven’t received sufficient information that shows me either a level of remorse, that shows deep reflection … or a parole plan that suggests how he will deal with these real life triggers when he’s released,” Ravitch said.

Luis Patiño Jr., a spokesman for the state corrections department, said of the 2,607 state prisoners who had parole suitability hearings by phone and video conference between April and January 1, 35% were granted release, compared to 34% of inmates that went before the board in all of 2019.

For inmates whose parole is granted, Board of Parole Hearings staff and attorneys have 90 days to review the cases before sending it to the governor, who can uphold, reverse or modify the parole agreement, or take no action. The case could also be rerouted back to the parole board for another review, Patiño said.

If parole is rejected, the panel sets the number of years an inmate must wait before another parole hearing, Patiño said.

Inmates can have their own attorneys represent them or can have attorneys assigned to them by the board, he added, though declined a request for the name of DeLongis’ lawyer in the parole hearing.

Santa Rosa attorney Steve Gallenson, who represented DeLongis during his criminal trial, could not be reached for comment last week.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.