A woman convicted in 2001 of shooting her ex-boyfriend in Washington and leaving him to die in a Davis motel room has been granted early parole under a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation order that seeks to reduce prison populations ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
While Terebea Jean Williams’ pending release has dismayed the victim’s family and Yolo County prosecutors who tried her case, her defenders say her exceptional conduct in prison over the past two decades warrants her freedom.
Williams, now 44, was found guilty of first-degree murder, carjacking and kidnapping in connection with the February 1998 homicide, discovered when a housekeeper at the Motel 6 on Chiles Road found Kevin “John” Ruska Jr. tied to a chair, lifeless from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Ruska suffered the wound a day earlier and 750 miles away in Tacoma, Wash., where authorities said Williams forced the 23-year-old into his own car trunk during an argument, shot him and drove roughly 12 hours straight until she reached Davis.
There, Williams paid for two nights in room 251 at the motel but left six hours into her stay, telling the bound Ruska she would soon call police to rescue him. She never did.
A California Highway Patrol officer arrested her on northbound Interstate 5 in Colusa County, apparently on her way back to Washington, after finding a gun stashed under the driver’s seat and blood and a bullet hole inside the trunk. At the time, she assumed Ruska was still alive.
Williams took the witness stand in her own defense during her 2001 trial in Yolo Superior Court, claiming she shot Ruska in self-defense after months of physical and psychological abuse during their dating relationship. An expert witness testified she suffered from battered-women’s syndrome.
But that didn’t sway the jury, and their subsequent conviction resulted in a state prison sentence of 84 years to life. At the time, Yolo County prosecutors said she would be nearly 90 years old by the time she became eligible for parole.
Changes in the law
Years later, the CDCR enacted a series of youthful-offender parole policies, which for Williams — who was 22 at the time of her crimes — moved her initial parole hearing up to February 2022, according to online records.
Then, in June, the CDCR filed a petition for Williams to be resentenced under a Penal Code statute seeking lesser terms “in the interest of justice” for certain prison inmates, including those who demonstrated exemplary behavior while in custody.
That matter was making its way through the Yolo Superior Court system when the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office received an email Thursday morning from the California Board of Parole hearings, saying Willams would be paroled under a government code allowing inmate releases during an emergency — in this case, COVID-19 — that endangers inmates’ lives.
The CDCR’s online COVID-19 tracker shows a total of 7,277 inmates had tested positive for the virus as of Thursday, with 1,000 new cases in the past 14 days. Forty-two inmates have died.
According to the CDCR website, early release is granted to those with a year or less remaining in their terms (excluding those convicted of domestic violence or violent crimes, or whose sentences require them to register as a sex offender), as well as inmates deemed to have high-risk medical conditions.
Thursday’s email did not disclose Williams’ specific qualification for release, though the Yolo County Public Defender’s Office, which has worked on Williams’ case since 2018, noted she suffers from “serious medical issues.”
“The woman I came to know was serving a prison sentence that did not serve the interests of justice,” said Sara Johnson, an attorney with the Public Defender’s post-conviction unit who advocated for Williams’ release.
Public Defender Tracie Olson added that a “lifetime of traumatic experiences” left Williams with post-traumatic stress disorder, rendering her unable to cope with Ruska’s alleged abuse.
“At the time of her 2001 trial, battered-women’s syndrome and the effects of trauma were not well understood, and the jury was not allowed to hear evidence that would have helped her defense,” Olson said.
During her nearly 19 years in state prison, Williams has graduated from college, served as a peer literacy tutor and volunteered to help other women who are survivors of trauma, according to Olson. Hard of hearing for much of her life, she also volunteered as an American Sign Language instructor.
“She has collected countless commendations and praise from staff and volunteers, who routinely describe her as exemplary, professional, positive, consistent and outstanding,” Olson said.
Meanwhile, the announcement came as a devastating shock to Ruska’s family, said Melinda Aiello, Yolo County assistant chief deputy district attorney.
“Our hearts go out to the Ruska family, who just learned that the woman responsible for John’s heinous and senseless murder is being released immediately. Neither the family nor the District Attorney’s Office were given an opportunity to object, or the justification for the release,” Aiello said.
“While we understand the need to control the spread of COVID in the state prisons, the lack of transparency in how releases are being decided is alarming.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene