Former Ceres man Jack Dewayne Britt, 52, was found unsuitable for parole during a May 17 hearing of the State Board of Parole Hearings held at the State Prison in Corcoran.

Deputy District Attorney Jeff Mangar appeared at the hearing and argued for Britt's continued confinement based on the callousness of the murder, his disciplinary problems while in prison and the unreasonable risk to public safety should he be paroled.

During the early morning hours of December 1, 1981, then 17-year-old Britt - along with 18-year-olds Stoney Hunt and Jonathon McIntyre - murdered Downey High School teacher John Crahan, 51. The trio mistakenly believed Crahan was wealthy because he drove a new Chevrolet Corvette. They planned to kidnap Crahan and force him to withdraw $1 million dollars from his bank account. Crahan became aware of the plot, saw the trio approaching his Modesto house that morning and fired at them. Britt then shot and killed Crahan.

In 1984, Britt, Hunt and McIntyre were all convicted of Crahan's murder and each was sentenced to life in prison.

Mangar opposed release, noting Britt's prison tattoo of a German helmet and Nazi swastika along with his violent and disruptive behavior that repeatedly occurred while in prison. The board agreed that Britt posed an unreasonable risk to public safety and denied parole for three years. Britt has previously been denied parole 11 times with the most recent denial last year. He will be scheduled for another hearing in 2020, although that hearing may be advanced to as early as next year based on recent changes in the law. His crime partners have already been paroled - Hunt in 2012 and McIntyre in 2010.