Sonoma County's top law enforcement official said the justice system failed in a Petaluma double homicide in which a parolee with a history of threats was released after a new offense and went on to kill an off-duty sheriff's deputy.
District Attorney Jill Ravitch said prosecutors were not aware of restraining orders against Thomas Halloran, 28, of Novato, when he appeared in court in May on charges of trying to obtain pain killers with a fake prescription.
He was freed on two years' probation after pleading no contest to a single misdemeanor count. And state parole officials imposed no additional sanctions, finding the new crime was not serious enough to warrant a return to custody.
About a month after that last court date, Halloran gunned down Marin County sheriff's Deputy Jim Mathiesen, 49, during a confrontation at his ex-girlfriend's home. Halloran was then shot and killed by the ex-girlfriend's brother.
"This case was an absolute tragedy," Ravitch said. "It was a failure on so many fronts."
Now Mathiesen family members and some law enforcement officials are questioning why Halloran was allowed to remain free when there was a trail of threats, drug abuse and violence stretching over a four-year period.
"I don't think they thought about it thoroughly," said Vincent Mathiesen, 22, who held a memorial service for his father last week attended by hundreds of supporters and law enforcement officers.
"I'm sure they feel horrible about that," he said.
Two weeks after the fatal shootings a clearer picture has emerged of a judicial process that fails to use all available court documents in charging offenders and lacks a structured process between state corrections officials and local law enforcement in assessing the risks of defendants.
Christine Cook, assistant district attorney, said prosecutors looked at Halloran's rap sheet, which showed a 2008 domestic violence-related conviction, last year's brief prison stint and a DMV printout.
They didn't review other court documents that included restraining orders from his ex-wife and a former girlfriend, and child custody paperwork that included visitation violations, she said.
Criminal backgrounds and civil restraining orders are available electronically through a computer system that is available to law enforcement and prosecutors, said Jose Guillen, executive officer of Sonoma County Superior Court.
He said Halloran's file contains details about a restraining order that was entered in June 2009.
Cook confirmed that the District Attorney's Office has access to the California Law Enforcement Telecommunication System records. But she said her office relies on investigators from police agencies to pull together relevant details and provide them to courtroom prosecutors under a long-standing agreement.
The sheer volume of cases coupled with security issues make it difficult for prosecutors to use the system themselves.
"There are 30,000 cases we review each year so there are only a certain amount of resources," Cook said.
The decision then focuses on what information is relevant. The restraining order background in the Halloran case was not provided by investigators because the new offense was a property crime and not domestic violence-related or a violation of a restraining order, she said.
Halloran received probation in the forged-prescription case with the expectation that a parole violation was pending and he would receive a concurrent punishment from the state, Cook said.
"Ultimately, the parole department had the full breadth of his personal criminal background," Cook said.
Ravitch was more blunt in her appraisal.
"For reasons I can't explain the parole division dropped their hold on him," she said. "The decision was not communicated to our office."
Fred Bridgewater, a parole administrator for the North Bay district, acknowledged that state agents knew Halloran's background but he wasn't sent back to prison because the new crime wasn't serious enough.
He said if prosecutors had charged a more significant felony charge, rather than the misdemeanor, he might have been returned to prison.
As it was, parole agents deferred to the local prosecutor in handing down any punishment, he said.
"He got 24 months' probation for prescription drug forgery," Bridgewater said.
"That's a lot different than, say, assault with a deadly weapon, for example. It wasn't a violent circumstance."
Yet drugs appeared to play a critical role in Halloran's past troubles, leading to rages and violent behavior, according to court records.
The man known to binge on steroids and Oxy Contin terrorized both his ex-wife and girlfriends over the past four years, threatened to beat his mother-in-law and "disappear" with his young son, according to court documents.
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