Man convicted in reporter's 1976 killing seeks clemency
PHOENIX—A man serving a life prison sentence for the 1976 murder of a newspaper reporter wants the state to give him clemency because he's in poor health.
Max Dunlap, 78, wants his sentenced commuted before his December 2014 parole date. He says he's incontinent from diabetes and can barely walk after suffering a head injury in an attack by other inmates.
"I will go home to my wife and purchase nursing care," Dunlap wrote in his application for commutation. "I don't believe I'm long for this Earth."
The Arizona Board of Executive Clemency will hear from friends and family on both sides of the case Friday. If the board decides there's merit to the discussion, it will schedule a second hearing this summer to interview Dunlap and could make a recommendation for Gov. Janet Napolitano's approval.
Arizona Republic investigative reporter Don Bolles died 11 days after a remote-controlled bomb was detonated beneath his car in the parking lot of a central Phoenix hotel on June 2, 1976. He had reported on land fraud and organized crime.
Dunlap's first murder conviction was overturned after he served two years on death row. He was convicted a second time in 1993. Two other men were also convicted in the slaying, although accused bomb triggerman John Adamson later had his conviction overturned.
"I am truly sorry for getting involved with those men," Dunlap wrote in his application for commutation. "And I am sorry for the newspaperman."
Bolles' family objects to the clemency petition.
Cathy Bolles said her father "was taken away from us when he was 47. I was 13.
"I'm sorry if I don't sound like I have pity for him (Dunlap) but my father got no mercy," she added. "When you put someone in prison for life, I think that's where they should stay."
