Desert Sun


Estimated printed pages: 8

July 31, 2005
Section: A-Section
Page: A1

Drunken driver seeks parole from governor
Erica Solvig
Staff
The Desert Sun

County D.A.'s office says he `remains a danger to society'
By Erica Solvig

The Desert Sun

Jeffrey Perrotte sits in a cell without air conditioning at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison, ticking away the days on a small desk calendar surrounded by family photos.

A dozen years into his 15 years-to-life sentence for second-degree murder, Perrotte is fighting for his freedom.

Convicted of causing the fiery crash that killed Frank Sinatra's longtime friend and confidant, Jilly Rizzo, the 41-year-old Rancho Mirage man has already been denied parole twice.

Now his hope lies in a direct appeal to one man - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It's a big risk considering that in recent memory, no California governor has overturned a state parole board's denial and let a prisoner go free.

"Time is slipping away," said a graying Perrotte, sitting behind glass and speaking to a reporter through a phone at the prison's visitation room.

"There's no program that I can do that I haven't already done. There's no magic course. What you see right now is what society is going to get today or whether they let me out 10 years from now."

But those who object to his release say the heinous nature of the crime, coupled with Perrotte's previous convictions, should send a strong message to Schwarzenegger: Perrotte needs to remain in prison and continue his punishment.

"(Perrotte's) offense was particularly egregious because the inmate had the opportunity to save Mr. Rizzo's life, yet chose to evade law enforcement instead," Riverside County District Attorney Grover Trask told the state parole board in a May 12 letter.

Perrotte is not just trying to convince the governor but change the opinion of the district attorney, two parole boards and some member of the victim's family - all who feel Perrotte hasn't served his debt to society.

He's bucking a state prison system that's designed to punish, not rehabilitate, those who are locked inside.

Horrific crash claimed life

It was just shortly after midnight May 6, 1992, that things went horribly wrong.

Before driving toward his Rancho Mirage home, Perrotte had downed three beers while serving as master of ceremonies for a Cinco de Mayo beauty contest at Don Diego's Restaurant in Indian Wells.

Driving his Mercedes-Benz, Perrotte was traveling at least 60 mph and as fast as 80 mph down Gerald Ford Drive when he collided with the Jaguar that Rizzo was driving.

Rizzo was turning onto Gerald Ford Drive from Inverness Drive, headed to his girlfriend's house.

It was the morning of his 75th birthday. Later that evening, he was supposed to party with friends at Sinatra's home in Rancho Mirage.

Perrotte's car broadsided Rizzo's car, causing the Jaguar to burst into flames with Rizzo trapped inside.

Witnesses testified that Rizzo called out for help but was trapped in his car. The famed nightclub owner, who had known Sinatra since the 1950s, died from smoke inhalation and burns, a coroner would determine.

Perrotte fled the scene - he was in a state of panic, he now says. And he returned home to tell his girlfriend, Michelle Churis, what had happened.

He took a swig of whiskey before returning to the crash scene with Michelle. She tried to protect Perrotte by telling police she had been driving and caused the wreck..

Schwarzenegger cannot ignore Perrotte's deceit and Rizzo's death, said Sara Danville, a supervising deputy to Trask.

"He let a man burn to death," she said. "He downplays that fact. It's unbelievably horrific."

The deadly night is something that Perrotte says he relives "a thousand times a day." Perrotte maintains that he didn't realize he was drunk when he drove home that night, though tests showed his blood-alcohol level was far above the legal limit.

Michelle, who married Perrotte between the time of the accident and his June 1993 trial, had left the restaurant before him. She said she would not have let him drive home if he was not capable.

But this wasn't the first time Perrotte had gotten behind the wheel intoxicated.

He had been convicted twice for driving under the influence before the accident. And just weeks before the accident, he was charged in yet another drunken-driving traffic collision. Perrotte was even enrolled in a drunken drivers' rehabilitation program at the time of the Rizzo crash.

An admitted alcoholic, the father of four says he had been drinking since he was in seventh grade, but success in the telecommunications business and a happy family life masked his problem.

"I regret ever drinking in my life," Perrotte said from prison. "More than anything, I wish I had the state of mind not to drive.

"Anybody that has driven a car under the influence of alcohol could be sitting here where I am today."

`A danger to society'

Of the 194 fatal accidents that happened in Riverside County in 1992, the Perrotte-Rizzo crash is perhaps the most horrific, definitely the most memorable.

In letters to the Board of Prison Terms, the Riverside County district attorney's office wrote that "until (Perrotte) can learn to behave, he remains a danger to society."

Danville represented the district attorney's office in May at Perrotte's most recent parole hearing. She described Perrotte as "by far the most manipulative inmate I've encountered in my career."

She believes his sentiments are not sincere but, rather, "an act."

"He will continue to commit crimes if he is released, I know that," Danville said. "To the bottom of my heart I believe that."

One of Rizzo's daughters, Caroline Collins of Miami, as well as some of Rizzo's friends have come to Perrotte's defense. They've written letters urging his release.

They point to Perrotte's three diplomas and other accomplishments from behind bars. And they go as far to say that Rizzo himself would argue Perrotte had served enough time and should be released.

But some of Rizzo's other family members, including his daughter Abby Rizzo, embrace the parole boards' decisions to keep him behind bars.

"I don't know that he's rehabilitated," valley resident Abby Rizzo said.

She described Perrotte as a "coward" for fleeing the scene.

"He's not a stand-up guy. I'm sorry he has kids. My dad had kids, too."

Punishment, not rehab

Until the late 1970s, California law used both rehabilitation and punishment in describing the purpose of the prison system.

But laws change.

And today, the purpose of prison is punishment, according to Tip Kindel, spokesman for the state's Board of Parole Hearings.

Perrotte said the state's penal philosophy hasn't stopped him from making the most of his time behind bars.

During the nearly 12 years he's been incarcerated, Perrotte has earned three degrees - a bachelor's, master's and doctorate - all in business administration from California Coast University.

He regularly attends alcoholic and narcotics support-group meetings and has become a group spokesman. Perrotte said he stays sober despite the availability of alcohol in prison's underground market.

He also tries to share his story with other inmates daily, in hopes they won't make the same choices he did.

He extends that story beyond Chuckawalla's bars too, through his Web site, www.drinkdrive-prison.com.

Perrotte also has participated in numerous on-site training programs and has had nearly two dozen corrections officers write letters in support of his release over the years.

"Jeff had been an arrogant young man, and by his own admission, he was always playing it fast and loose," said Ed Lambert, Perrotte's father-in-law. He is actively pursing Perrotte's release.

"What we're seeing is a completely new guy."

Nearly every weekend, Lambert and other family members go visit Perrotte at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe, near the Arizona border and 110 miles from the fatal accident in Rancho Mirage.

It's from the cafeteria-style waiting room, where dozens of inmates gather with family members each Saturday, Sunday and major holiday, that Perrotte helps his children with their homework, hears about their after-school activities and has watched them grow up.

Sometimes his four children - one of whom is from his relationship with Michelle - will bring their friends to meet their father. Perrotte said one of the hardest things is hearing that his children, ages 12 to 19 years, are proud of him.

"I don't really remember what he was like before (the accident)," said 17-year-old Jessica. "All my memories of him are behind bars."

Perrotte's wife described the situation as "a living hell." Michelle, who served two years of probation for her involvement in the accident, said her husband should not have received such a long sentence.

To help her children cope, she pulls out old home movies of Perrotte. She also videotapes every major milestone with the family.

"We're hoping to have enough time in life to stay home and watch them."

Rizzo's granddaughter, Kacey Michele Cotten, said she does not feel "any sadness" for Perrotte's children "since he is still alive, even if he isn't home to see them growing up."

She was only 6 years old when her grandfather died, but she has memories of Rizzo taking her to Las Vegas.

"I don't know why (Perrotte's) rehabilitation matters to anyone at all, he was sent to prison to pay for what he did, that's all. Punishment," Cotten wrote in an e-mail to The Desert Sun.

"People get out of prison and repeat their crimes all the time, don't they? How will we really know, do we wait and see who he kills next time he's drunk ?

"Grandpa doesn't get another chance."

`Nobody to blame but me'

Staffers at Schwarzenegger's press office would not discuss whether they are considering Perrotte's appeal. However, Perrotte's father-in-law, Lambert, says the governor's office has contacted the prison about Perrotte's education.

Kindel, of the Board of Parole Hearings, said he didn't know anyone who had been assigned the case.

In an automatic suitability review, in which the governor double-checks when a parole board has said a prisoner can be released, it can take upward of 120 days. Other cases, when people are seeking clemency or a pardon, have been known to take 15 to 20 years.

The governor has no timeframe in which to determine a case like Perrotte's.

If Schwarzenegger denies the appeal, it will be at least another two years before Perrotte is up for parole again.

Perrotte is passing the time in vocational classes, joining self-help groups and working out.

He admits that some days are harder than others, when he sits in his cell crying and praying.

Perrotte said his family helps him keep hope that he'll soon be released. He also has become a devout Christian who prays daily.

Should Schwarzenegger grant his release, Perrotte vows he'll be a new man. He says he already has a job offer and hopes to resume work in the telecommunications field.

He also pledges to enter the ABC Recovery House in Indio and become a speaker at local schools, warning anyone who will listen about the dangers of drinking and driving.

Telling anyone who will listen: Don't become me.

But most of all, Perrotte said, he wants to make up for lost time.

"I would give my life just to have spent the last years with my kids," he said. "I would gladly die today to have those years.

"I have nobody to blame but me."

Erica Solvig is a reporter with The Desert Sun. She can be reached at erica.solvig@thedesertsun.com or 778-4644.

Photo by Jose Omar Ornelas, The Desert Sun

This intersection at Inverness and Gerald Ford drives in Rancho Mirage is where Jeffrey Perrotte's vehicle struck Jilly Rizzo's vehicle, causing it to burst into flames, killing Rizzo.

Glance: WHO WAS JILLY RIZZO?

A nightclub proprietor who owned hotspots in New York, Miami Beach and Palm Springs, Jilly Rizzo is most remembered for his connection to the famed singer Frank Sinatra.

The duo met in the 1950s through Jilly's Bar, a New York after-theater club that Sinatra frequented, and had a tight-knit friendship.

"Sinatra couldn't have loved another man more than he loved Jilly," singer Frankie Randall told The Desert Sun in 1992. "He was just Jilly's closest friend ever. And Jilly would have done anything for Sinatra."

In 1973, Sinatra reportedly told Rizzo and a bodyguard to go into the men's restroom at the Trinidad Hotel and beat up a Salt Lake City insurance agent, according to Desert Sun reports. A jury ordered Rizzo to pay the agent $101,000, but the verdict was later overturned and the case was settled out of court.

Rizzo later was sentenced to five years probation for a bank fraud conviction.

Rizzo's fame lingers today. There's even a club in Chicago - Jilly's Piano Bar - that features photos and memorabilia from Rizzo, Sinatra and the Rat Pack.

Despite the former ice delivery boy's connections and frequent travels, his daughter Abby Rizzo's memories are of a loving father.

"He wasn't like a big shot celebrity," the Coachella Valley resident said. "He was a big tough guy. But he was a pussycat."

Sinatra was one of the pallbearers at Rizzo's funeral Mass, which was attended by some 600 people. He is buried in Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, just six plots away from where Sinatra was laid to rest in 1998.

- Erica Solvig

Glance: REVIEWING PAROLE CASES

Never in recent memory has a California governor gone against a parole board's decision and let a criminal go free.

When a parole board approves a release, the case is automatically sent to the governor. Of the 323 cases Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reviewed, he's allowed 99 of the prisoners to go free. He reversed 192 of the cases and forced the prisoner to stay. In the other 32 cases, Schwarzenegger asked the parole board to take another look at the case.

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