Man convicted of 1994 rape in Turlock granted parole

Onetime Turlock resident Daniel Ray Slayter, who has been serving a sentence of 15 years to life in prison for kidnapping and raping a 19-year-old woman in 1994, has been found suitable for parole.

Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager announced Wednesday that the state Board of Parole Hearings made the decision at a hearing May 27 at Valley State Prison, Chowchilla.

On March 14, 1994, Slayter forced the woman – who worked in the office of the Brentwood Apartments in Turlock – into a car at knifepoint, made her drive to a canal bank off Highway 140 and raped her. After the attack, he stole her car and left her stranded at the side of the road.

Deputy District Attorney Jeff Laugero argued at the hearing for continued confinement based on the nature of the offense, the inmate’s lack of insight into the crime, his criminal history, and a flawed comprehensive risk assessment relied on by the Board of Parole Hearings.

The risk assessment on Slayter noted he had no prior sex offenses, no prior convictions for nonsexual violence, and no male victims, according to a news release from the District Attorney’s Office.

But the release says the panel was given evidence contradicting each of these statements, including Slayter’s arrest on a warrant for statutory rape involving a 16-year-old victim; a conviction for grand theft, described by Slayter as a strong-arm robbery of a pizza delivery man; and a conviction for battery and vandalism involving a male victim.

Slayter was convicted July 7, 1994, of rape, kidnapping during carjacking, use of a knife, assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment.

He previously was denied parole in 1997, 2000, 2005 and 2009, and waived his parole hearing in 2012.

This story was originally published June 3, 2015 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Man convicted of 1994 rape in Turlock granted parole."