Killer had to be re-sentenced for 1978 murder. Here’s why the judge smirked as he ruled

Convicted killer Douglas Stankewitz smirked as Fresno County Judge Arlan Harrell on Friday sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

For Stankewitz, whose lawyers have been trying for decades to overturn his 1978 death penalty conviction, the judge’s ruling was not a surprise.

Harrell said he was left with little choice on how to proceed. A federal appeals court in 2012 threw out Stankewitz’s death penalty sentence, saying the jury should have heard evidence of Stankewitz’s troubled childhood.

The court’s ruling didn’t change his murder conviction, however, so the Fresno County District’s attorney’s office would have to re-argue his sentencing.

Three weeks ago, the DA’s office said it would not pursue the death penalty and instead seek life in prison without the possibility of parole. Stankewitz attorney Peter Jones was pushing for life with the possibility of parole. The judge disagreed.

“The court has but one option ... and that is life without the possibility of parole,” the judge said.

As for Stankewitz’s smirk, Harrell responded in kind.

“Yes, as a point of fact, I am smirking because Mr. Stankewitz is smirking — that is the only reason,” Harrell said. “Mr. Stankewitz and I have seen one another occasionally for quite some time. I have no ill will towards Mr. Stankewitz.”

Family members of the 60-year-old Stankewitz were disappointed at Friday’s outcome. Many were hoping this could open the possibility for parole.

“One day we are hoping he can be a free man,” said an aunt, Wilma Lewis. “He has been in prison for more than 40 years. It just doesn’t seem fair.”

Stankewitz is the longest tenured condemned inmate at San Quentin State Prison.

He was convicted in 1978 for the murder of 22-year-old Theresa Greybeal. Stankewitz, then 19, plotted with three others to rob and kidnap Greybeal in Modesto. Greybeal was driven to Fresno, where Stankewitz shot and killed her. After the murder, Stankewitz told the others in the group: “Did I drop her or did I drop her?”

Stankewitz has always maintained his innocence and his team of lawyers includes Jones, famed civil rights attorney Tony Serra and his associate, San Francisco attorney Curtis Briggs.

Over the years, Stankewitz’s case has been litigated from Superior Court to the state Supreme Court. The case was tried twice, and both resulted in a guilty verdict. After the first trial, the California Supreme Court reversed the conviction because Stankewitz’s competency to stand trial was not addressed. He was found competent prior to the second trial, and he was convicted again.

The second conviction also was appealed, but in 1990 the California Supreme Court affirmed Stankewitz’s conviction and death sentence.

Stankewitz filed a motion in federal court, saying his attorney did not investigate and present evidence during the penalty phase of his trial. In 2009, a federal judge affirmed Stankewitz’s guilt but reversed his death sentence. Three years later, an appeals court agreed with that decision.