A chance for parole was delayed this week for a former Los Angeles police detective serving a sentence of 27 years to life in the cold-case slaying of her ex-boyfriend’s wife in 1986.
Stephanie Lazarus was convicted in 2012 of killing Sherri Rasmussen, a 29-year-old nurse who was bludgeoned and shot to death in the condo she shared with her husband of three months, John Ruetten.
A select committee of the state Board of Parole Hearings determined in November that Lazarus was eligible for parole.
The full board took up her case on Monday and later voted to order a rescission hearing, referring the case to a lower panel to consider whether to rescind the earlier recommendation.
Rasmussen’s sisters and widower gave emotional testimony during Monday’s hearing about their pain and described Lazarus as a conniving criminal who used her police training to cover up the killing.
Ruetten told the board he doesn’t believe that Lazarus — whom he referred to only as “the inmate” — feels remorse. He said she engaged in “skillful deception” and only confessed to the crime during a hearing last year in order to gain parole.
