Convicted Murderer's 'Compassionate Release' Into RivCo Sparks Fury

BEAUMONT, CA — A former Cathedral City police officer who murdered his girlfriend in 1990 and tried to make it look like a suicide is being let out of prison early under California's new "compassionate release" law.

Luis Barreto Hassan, now 78, was convicted in October 1997 of murder in the death of Kristina Lazzarini. He shot her in the head on her 27th birthday in Cathedral City.

Now, nearly 26 years after the conviction, Lazzarini's family and Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin are dismayed that Hassan will be released from Chowchilla's Valley State Prison into the community of Beaumont.

On July 17, Riverside Superior Court Judge Helios Hernandez granted Hassan's compassionate release petition and ordered he be set free over Hestrin's objection. On Monday, Judge Hernandez clarified his ruling, stating Hassan's convictions remain in place but the 30-years-to-life sentence was vacated in its entirety. In addition to murder, Hassan was convicted on a sentencing enhancement of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Hassan is scheduled to be released into Beaumont by Thursday, per the judge's ruling. The judge set a "Further Proceedings" hearing for Dec. 11 to obtain an update on Hassan's medical status.

KESQ in the Coachella Valley has followed the Hassan case. Steve Lazzarini, Kristina's brother, detailed his pain for the news outlet.

"My brother ended up committing suicide, and as well as my mom did years after that. And so it's not just one murder this guy's done. It's three," he told KESQ.

According to the KESQ report, Hassan is suffering from chronic lung disease and is not expected to live more than a year.

Under California's compassionate release law that went into effect Jan. 1, state prison authorities are required to recommend that an inmate's sentence be recalled if that person meets certain
medical criteria. The law also creates a mandatory presumption in favor of compassionate release by the court unless the inmate is found to be at "an unreasonable risk" of committing a violent "super strike" felony, like murder, rape, sex offenses against children, etc.

"There's really no evidence in the record that indicates that [Hassan's] on death's door, that he's going to die sometime soon," Hestrin is quoted in the KESQ report. "We're talking about someone who's convicted of a terrible heinous crime of taking another human being's life."

Family and friends of Kristina launched an online petition aimed at keeping Hassan behind bars. As of Tuesday afternoon, the petition garnered 2,355 signatures.

"Hassan was a police officer and should be held to a higher standard due to the nature of his job," according to the petition. "When he committed this homicide he was off duty as a police officer for the Los Angeles Housing Authority. Hassan also was previously a police officer for the Cathedral City Police Department, in Riverside County, CA."

While compassionate release proponents argue the law allows inmates to spend their final days in comfort, money is a key motivator behind the legislation. When an inmate's sentence is recalled, the financial burden is shifted away from the state.

Steve Lazzarini doesn't agree with the compassion.

"Why are they getting another day? Get out and enjoy everything? Order pizza, watch a movie be on the computer. Why did they get to do that? My sister didn't get to do that. She's been gone for 33 years," he told KESQ. "I don't understand what compassion is when you've taken somebody's life.