Chowchilla Kidnapper Wins Parole In 2021

SACRAMENTO (AP) —  California's parole board has granted parole for one of three people convicted of hijacking a Chowchilla school bus and holding 26 children and their driver captive underground in 1976.

The board set a 2021 parole date on Tuesday.

Parole board spokesman Luis Patino says that any governor in the next 10 years can ask the board to reconsider its decision to set a release date for Richard Allen Schoenfeld.

The board granted Schoenfeld parole in a 2008 decision, but then rescinded its decision. It reconsidered again at a Tuesday hearing.

Schoenfeld had asked the state Supreme Court to grant him parole.

The captives all escaped without serious injuries.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)