Bruce Young will remain at the state Medical Facility in Vacaville for his role in Brandon Huff kidnapping.
Despite support from his family and the victim's family, a Woodland man has been denied parole again for his part in the kidnapping of a baby in the 1980s.
The only letters of opposition presented at Bruce Young's parole hearing Wednesday were from the Yolo County District Attorney's Office and Sheriff's Office. There were also letters from the Colusa County District Attorney's Office and Sheriff's Office, but the parole commissioners weren't sure why as the crime did not occur there.
The hearing was held at California Medical Facility in Vacaville.
Young, now 50, was part of a kidnap for ransom plot on Aug. 9, 1982, at the Don Huff Ranch in western Woodland. He assaulted caretaker Jose Carrillo with a sawed-off shotgun at the ranch. After Carrillo was taken to the van, Salvatore Sanchez, who led the kidnapping plot, drove to the Huff household and took 3-month-old Brandon Huff.
Young decided to be part of the plot because he was in $5,000 to $6,000 drug debt from Sanchez. He had been mostly been using heroin and cocaine.
"It wasn't something I wanted to do from the beginning," Young said Wednesday at his hearing, recalling the case.
Later after the initial kidnapping, the caretaker Carrillo escaped and Young fled the area.
Meanwhile, Sanchez and two teenage girls took Huff on a high speed chase on Interstate 5 and adjoining roads when law enforcement observed Brandon being held out of the speeding van's passenger window. The van was stopped and all passengers were arrested, with Huff safely returned to his parents.
Young said he turned himself in after seeing footage of the chase on TV.
Sanchez committed suicide in jail the day before he was scheduled to be in court in November 1982.
Young's last parole hearing was Aug. 24, 2007, which the victim Huff attended.
Huff, now 28, is an Iraq War veteran who lost his left leg after a car bomb went off in Mosul in 2005, according to a series of articles in the Democrat. He also suffered two strokes and lost use of most of his left side.
During Young's parole hearing in 2007, Huff and his mother, Marcia Hammill, had no issues with him being granted parole, although they had in years past.
"I wasn't expecting him to show up," Young said, emotion heavy in his voice.
Hammill also submitted a letter of support for Young during Wednesday's hearing, although she was not present.
Young was told at the 2007 hearing not to have any more drug violations, but he had one within a week of the hearing.
The last time Young said he used drugs was when he attempted suicide Dec. 7, 2008, not long after his mom had died. This was his second attempt.
But after the suicide attempt, Young said he was diagnosed with depression and prescribed anti-depressants and later lithium. He realized that he was blaming other people for his issues, rather than himself.
Young was transferred to Vacaville's California Medical Facility in 2009 where he is involved in a number of groups, including occupational therapy where he expresses himself as an artist through painting and other work. Young said he also paints in his cell using Q-tips and crushed up pastels.
Young understood that he might not get a job outside prison that would be challenging but he would have his art. But before the parole hearing Wednesday, several business owners in Woodland had offered him jobs. Young had previously completed in prison his associate's degree and two vocational degrees, including one in drafting.
Multiple family members said Young could stay at their homes and so did his fiancee, Susan Paul, who lives in Sacramento. Parole commissioner Troy Arbaugh asked Young to consider transitional housing, especially for a person who has been incarcerated for nearly three decades.
Young was asked before the commissioners denied parole what he would do if he was denied. He said he would continue with the present program of attending meetings and taking his medication.
"I would not let it destroy me," Young said.
But Young was denied parole for three more years. Arbaugh said while Young has made progress, there has been 12 violations while incarcerated, including drug possession and making prison wine.
There was also a psychological evaluation in 2009, about six months after Young's suicide attempt, that stated he was at a moderate risk for violence if released.
Susan Cherry, deputy parole commissioner, said it took Young attempting suicide for him to seriously consider getting clean from drugs. But she hoped continued participation in group activities would help Young with setbacks he might face.
"Life is a series of setbacks," she said. "How you cope with them leads to your success."