Man Charged in Hollywood Stabbing Death Was Out on Parole

The 26-year-old man charged with murder in the stabbing death of a woman on Hollywood Boulevard was recently paroled from prison and under supervision by county probation officers, a county supervisor said today.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky asked county personnel to put together a timeline on the movements of Dustin James Kinnear from the time of his parole to the time he allegedly killed 27-year-old Christine Calderon on June 18.

"It is critical that the county department that had any encounters with Mr. Kinnear immediately analyze the chronology of events that transpired between the time of his release from the California prison system and the moment he encountered Ms. Calderon on Hollywood Boulevard,'' Yaroslavsky said.

"This timeline may contribute to our understanding of this specific situation and inform interventions to ensure that probationers are engaged in appropriate rehabilitative services, high risk incidences are deterred, and public safety is preserved.''

According to Sheriff's Department records, Kinnear was in and out of county jails five times during April and May, for stretches ranging from two to nine days. At least three of those instances seem to be related to "flash incarcerations'' due to parole violations, according to the coding on the department's website.

He was last released just 11 days before the fatal stabbing, which occurred around 8:10 p.m. on June 18, in an area that is a magnet for tourists, near the American Eagle store along Hollywood Boulevard. Calderon was walking with a friend and they took cellphone pictures of three men panhandling and holding signs. The men asked her to give them $1 and when she refused, Calderon was stabbed.

Kinnear is accused of wielding the knife.

Jason Joel Wolstone, 33, is charged with assault by means likely to produce bodily injury and two counts of accessory after the fact, and 34-year-old Brian Joseph Widdows is charged with two counts of accessory after the fact.

One of the things Yaroslavsky said he wanted to determine was whether Kinnear was evaluated for mental illness and whether he received any mental health treatment.

When the three men appeared in court for arraignment, both Kinnear and Wolstone were wearing yellow prison clothes, which typically designate psychological issues of some kind.

All three men charged in the attack remain jailed and bail for Kinnear has been set at $1.03 million.

Yaroslavsky's request, supported by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors, comes as Gov. Jerry Brown seeks a stay from a federal court order to release an additional 10,000 inmates from state prisons to reduce overcrowding.

- City News Service