A high-stakes hearing in a San Jose courtroom Friday will decide whether to strip a key “special circumstance” finding from a 1987 murder conviction, a move that could transform a life-without-parole sentence into one that allows a shot at release. The case centers on Erik Chatman, convicted of killing 18-year-old Rosellina Lo Bue, and has pulled her family back into a legal battle they thought ended decades ago. At issue is whether a judge can erase a sentencing factor that jurors once relied on to impose the harshest punishment available.
Hearing could open door to parole
The court is set to hear arguments on whether to remove the special‑circumstance finding tied to Chatman’s murder conviction. If that finding is struck, his punishment could shift from life without the possibility of parole to a term of 25 years to life, which would make him eligible for parole review after spending decades in prison.
Chatman has challenged his conviction and sentence through petitions that claim violations of the Racial Justice Act, prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel. In earlier post‑conviction proceedings, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office already moved to take Chatman off death row by seeking removal of his death sentence, according to NBC Bay Area. Friday’s fight goes a step further, testing how far the system can or should go in reworking the outcome that a jury once endorsed.
Crime and conviction
Chatman was convicted in 1987 of torturing and killing Rosellina Lo Bue, an 18‑year‑old employee at a Photo Drive‑Up store in San Jose. According to court records and the California Supreme Court’s opinion, Lo Bue was stabbed dozens of times, and Chatman’s then‑young son was present at the scene. Those records describe the special‑circumstance findings, including torture, that supported the original death verdict.
The conviction and the aggravating findings that underpinned the sentence were examined on appeal in the state courts, as laid out in the decision in People v. Chatman.
Family reaction
For Lo Bue’s family, the latest move reopens a wound they say never really healed. Her brother, Tony Lo Bue, said the family always believed Chatman would ultimately face execution and that the DA’s recent steps feel like a betrayal of what they were told so many years ago…