Judge Revokes Parole For Man Detained In Death Of Oakland Woman
OAKLAND (CBS SF) - A judge revoked the parole for a convicted killer Friday who is described by Oakland police as a person of interest in the death of a woman whose body was found in Vacaville last week after she was reported missing earlier this month.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson said Randy Alana, 56, is accused of violating the terms and conditions of his parole from state prison by having "numerous contacts" with Sandra Coke.
Jacobson said Alana, who has prior convictions for manslaughter, kidnapping, robbery and rape but was paroled from state prison last year, also allegedly failed to charge his GPS monitoring device, absconded from parole and resisted arrest when authorities detained him on Aug. 6.
Coke, 50, an investigator for the federal public defender's office in San Francisco, was last seen by her daughter when she left her home in the 600 block of Aileen Street in Oakland at about 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 4.
Her body was found in a park in Vacaville last Friday and she was formally identified by authorities on Tuesday.
Oakland police said Coke had dated Alana in the distant past and they believe he was with her on the night she disappeared.
Jacobson ordered Alana, who is being held without bail at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, to return to court on Nov. 1.
Assistant District Attorney Paul Hora said Oakland police are still investigating Coke's death and Alana has not been charged in connection with it.
Hora said if no new charges are filed against Alana, the maximum time he can be held in custody for violating his parole is 180 days.
Alana, who wears glasses, was shackled and wore a red jail uniform at his brief hearing Friday morning in a high-security courtroom at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse.
Alameda County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson said Alana wears a red jail uniform because he is in administrative segregation at the jail, which means that he is in a cell by himself.
Nelson, who didn't comment directly on Alana's situation, said inmates are placed in administrative segregation based on their history, notoriety and security considerations.
One of Alana's past convictions is his voluntary manslaughter conviction for the fatal stabbing of fellow inmate Al Ingram, 40, at an Alameda County jail in June 1984.
A third inmate, James Hodari Benson, was convicted of murder for Ingram's death.
According to former Alameda County and San Francisco prosecutor Russ Giuntini, who is now in private practice, all three men belonged to the Black Guerilla Family prison gang and Alana and Benson suspected that Ingram was a police informant but that wasn't true.
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