Riverbank man to be released after serving 24 years of 40-to-life sentence for murder
A Riverbank man who carjacked and murdered a man, then buried him in a shallow grave along the Stanislaus River, has been granted parole after serving 24 years of his sentence of 40 years to life in prison.
Timothy Barstow Malone, who was 18 at the time of the crime in November 1998, was armed with a handgun when he traveled to the Bay Area to meet with 55-year-old victim David Frank Thompson of Ben Lomond, who was selling a Lexus.
According to a press release from the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office, Malone shot Thompson twice in the head after Thompson let him test drive the Lexus. He then put Thompson’s body in the trunk, cleaned up as much blood as he could from the vehicle’s interior and then drove back to his parents’ home on River Cove Drive in Riverbank.
Using his little sister’s red wagon, Malone pulled Thompson’s body down a trail by his house and buried him in a shallow grave along the Stanislaus River, according to the release.
Malone was arrested a few days later and eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and carjacking and admitted an enhancement that he personally and intentionally used a firearm causing death. In return for the plea, Malone received an agreed upon sentence of 40 years to life in state prison, avoiding the potential of life without the possibility of parole.
Over the years, Malone has told different versions of what happened the day he killed Thompson, according to the release.
During an interview with investigators, Malone said Thompson tried to assault him.
He later alleged that Thompson had tried to make a “romantic pass” at him, resulting in the murder. He was so convincing that a psychologist who interviewed him in 2001 gave the opinion that Malone had suffered “an archetype instance of homosexual panic and a subsequent impulsively violent outburst,” according to the release.
Following his conviction, Malone said in writings that he lied about Thompson assaulting him.
During his parole hearing last month, Malone changed his story again, telling the parole board that as he was driving the stolen Lexus to Stanislaus County, he heard a noise coming from the trunk where he had stored the victim’s body, according to the press release. Malone said when he opened the trunk he saw Thompson was still alive so he shot him again, killing him.
Recent changes in the law that apply to “youthful offenders” — most people who were younger than 26 when they committed a crime — gave Malone, now 41, several avenues to potentially get out of prison early.
Last year, Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Nancy Leo denied a recommendation by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Kathleen Allison that he be resentenced as a youthful offender; and Gov. Gavin Newsom never responded to his request for clemency, according to the release.
But he became eligible for a parole hearing early due to his status as a youthful offender and was granted parole during his first hearing in July.
At the hearing, Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney Victoria Vasquez argued that Malone still poses an unreasonable risk of violence to society if he were to be released and read statements from the victim’s relatives made at the sentencing in 2001.
“After deliberations, the board found that Malone no longer posed any risk of violence to the public if he were to be released and granted parole,” according to the release. “The board believed that Malone’s murderous lack of self-control in 1998 had since been mitigated by his extensive and active cooperation in programming while incarcerated.”
The board pointed to the absence of any rule violations by Malone while incarcerated and his accumulation of four associate of arts degrees, one associate degree in science and a bachelor’s of science degree in psychology.
It also said Malone showed insight into the causative factors that made him shoot a man in order to steal his car, according to the release.
