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"Son of Sam" Killer David Berkowitz Denied Parole at His First Hearing

After 25 years in prison, the parole board called his crimes atrocious and said he showed limited understanding of why he committed them. He had told the governor he belonged behind bars.

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David Berkowitz, gray-haired and mustached, in a dark green prison shirt

David Berkowitz told New York's governor that he deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison. On July 9, 2002, at his first parole hearing after 25 years behind bars, the state agreed.

The two-member parole board said Berkowitz, 49, the "Son of Sam" killer, showed "limited understanding of the motivation" for his crimes, which it called "atrocious." The board noted that he had recently written to Gov. George Pataki saying he deserved to be in prison for the rest of his life. In that letter Berkowitz said he had no interest in parole and could give no good reason why he should even be considered for it. He was held at Sullivan state prison in Fallsburg, about 80 miles northwest of New York City, and would be eligible for another hearing in two years.

Berkowitz was serving six consecutive sentences of 25 years to life for shooting six people to death and wounding seven in New York City, beginning on July 29, 1976. The dead were Donna Lauria, 18; Christine Freund, 26; Virginia Voskerichian, a college student; Valentina Suriani, 18, and Alexander Esau, 20; and Stacy Moskowitz. He claimed the attacks had been ordered by a neighbor's dog, and his nickname came from a note he left at one of the shootings. He was arrested on August 10, 1977, and pleaded guilty.

The parole board turned him down again in 2004, in a hearing that lasted less than ten minutes.

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