June 19, 2001, USA Today, Parole denied in school shooting,

June 19, 2001, USA Today, Parole denied in school shooting,  

6/19/2001 - Updated 04:10 PM ET

 
AP file
Spencer is escorted from court in this file photo from Oct. 1, 1979, in Santa Ana, Calif.


CORONA, Calif. (AP) — Brenda Spencer, who killed two people and wounded nine in the nation's first high-profile school shooting, was denied parole after a hearing in which she said she feels responsible for the many school shootings since her 1979 sniper attack.

Spencer, 38, told the three-member parole board at the California Institution for Women on Tuesday that she feels she is a different person now.

"I know saying I'm sorry doesn't make it all right," she said, adding that she wished it had never happened. "With every school shooting, I feel I'm partially responsible. What if they got their idea from what I did?"

Spencer was 16 on Jan. 29, 1979, when she fired on San Diego's Grover Cleveland Elementary School with a .22-caliber rifle from her family's house across the street.

Principal Burton Wragg and custodian Mike Suchar were killed. Eight students and a police officer were wounded. Spencer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

The parole board unanimously denied parole Tuesday and said Spencer won't be eligible again for another four years. She was first denied parole in 1993.

The board's chairman, Brett Granlund, on Tuesday questioned the truthfulness of some of Spencer's remarks.

Asked about her infamous comment to a reporter, that she had opened fire with a .22-caliber rifle that day because "I just don't like Mondays," Spencer told the board she couldn't remember saying it. She said she had been drinking and taking drugs and doesn't remember much from that day.

"I only remember talking to negotiators," she said.

She was then reminded that she told a negotiator: "It was a lot of fun seeing children shot."

For the first time, Spencer claimed her violence grew out of an abusive home life in which her father beat and sexually abused her.

Her father, Wallace Spencer, has never spoken publicly about the case. He did not answer a reporter's knock on his door last week and his phone number is not listed.

Granlund expressed doubt about the sexual abuse allegations, saying Spencer had never discussed them with counselors.

She had tried to, she said, but they generally ignored her.

"I'm just going to tell you, you are either involved in a situation with counselors and psychiatrists who are covering up, or you are making this up," he said.

The hearing disclosed that Spencer has been under treatment for epilepsy and is also receiving antidepressants.

"I don't get depressed like I did," she said. "I'm not scared all the time."

But San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Richard Sachs, who prosecuted Spencer, said her behavior in prison shows she isn't ready for freedom. After the recent breakup of a relationship between Spencer and another woman in prison, he said, she heated a paper clip and used it to carve onto her chest the words "courage" and "pride."

Spencer said it was just a tattoo, but Sachs said it showed an inability to deal with stress and an inclination to act out anger.

One of Spencer's victims, Cam Miller, also spoke at Tuesday's hearing. He said he has been plagued by nightmares and fears since Spencer shot him in the back when he was 9.

When he went to testify at her trial, he said, "I had to go up and face this cruel monster. The look Brenda Spencer gave me was enough to scare anyone to death."