CORCORAN >> The Board of Parole Hearings denied parole for William Clark Elwood, 53, on Nov. 6. Richard Hinchcliff, chief deputy District Attorney for the Lake County District Attorney”s Office, attended the lifer hearing at California State Prison, Corcoran to argue against Elwood”s release.
Elwood was convicted by a jury more than 30 years ago of kidnaping for robbery and assault with intent to murder and was sentenced by Judge John G. Hauck to nine years to life on Feb. 27, 1980. He was originally prosecuted by Robert L. Crone Jr. Elwood”s minimum eligible parole date was April 17, 1997. Elwood has had six previous parole hearings.
During Elwood”s time in prison he has had 71 serious disciplinary actions, including 20 that were violence related, six that were drug or alcohol related and for possession of a cell phone in prison. In 1983 he was found in possession of an inmate stabbing weapon and prosecuted and sentenced to an additional two years.
At the Nov. 6 hearing Hinchcliff, submitted a letter from the victim asking that Elwood be denied parole. Hinchcliff asked the Board of Parole Hearings commissioners to deny parole on the ground that he still presented an unreasonable risk of danger to the public if released, and failed to sufficiently participate in prison rehabilitation programs that would alleviate that danger. The commissioners agreed and issued a seven-year denial of parole. Elwood”s next parole hearing will be in 2021.
According to investigation reports, on Nov. 8, 1979 at 4 a.m. a resident saw the victim walking along Morgan Valley road east of Lower Lake in the dark with his head covered in blood and bruises, and he took him to the hospital and the sheriff”s department.
The victim told investigators he was at home about 8 p.m. when Elwood and Thomas Botkin came by his home in Clearlake. After a while, Elwood and Botkin suddenly started hitting and kicking him in the face, then got a big kitchen fork and started stabbing him. They bashed his head into the wall hard enough to break the sheet rock. They then took his wallet, which only contained $20 or $30.
The victim then went outside to try to get away and they caught him and started beating him again, according to the reports. They kicked him in the face and head and chest multiple times while he was lying on the ground. They then forced the victim into his own vehicle and drove him to the cemetery in Lower Lake. They drug him out of the car at the cemetery and started beating him again by hitting and kicking him repeatedly. Then they got him back in the car and drove a few miles out Morgan Valley Road, pushed him out of the car into a ditch and started beating him again. They beat him with a rock that weighed about 15 pounds. They then stood over him laughing and making fun of him, while the victim was begging them not to hit him anymore. The suspects responded by saying they were going to kill him.
The victim heard one of them finally say “I think he”s dead now,” then they drove off and left him for dead. The victim said each time he was being beaten Elwood and Botkin kept saying they wanted to kill him. They then returned to the victim”s residence and tried to clean up the blood.
Officers later located two large rocks on Morgan Valley road covered in blood and hair, and large amounts of blood inside victim”s residence. A Department of Justice criminalist determined that the two rocks investigators found that had been used to beat the victim had been one rock that broke in half. When the two defendants were arrested and placed in a patrol car together for transportation, they were recorded expressing extreme surprise and displeasure that the victim had lived. A witness advised investigators that after Elwood and Botkin returned from the beating that Elwood told her that they had done something big and Elwood stated “You would be proud of what we did”.
On Nov. 25, 1979, Elwood”s parole officer interviewed him, and he told his parole officer he was high on whiskey, tequila, reds and LSD when he committed the crime.
The victim had so much swelling and hemorrhaging in the mouth and throat that a tracheotomy had to be performed to save his life. The victim had multiple bone fractures to the face that were so severe that the facial bones were completely separated from the remainder of the skull. Bones forming the lower part of both eye sockets were so severely crushed that they had fallen into the sinus cavities. Numerous teeth were missing. The lower jaw was broken in several places. A doctor told investigators that it would take 150 G”s of force to cause damage that serious. The victim also suffered numerous stab wounds and had to undergo numerous surgeries. He also received internal injuries and his pancreas was severely damaged.
