The man dubbed the “Manoa Rapist” was denied parole more than 20 times over his past 42 years in prison.
But on Thursday, John Albert Freudenberg, now 64, was paroled after being in custody since March 27, 1982.
He was convicted in 1983 on 37 counts of first-degree rape, attempted first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, attempted first-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree burglary during a 14-month crime spree (from Jan. 31, 1981, to March 24, 1982). He was sentenced to 12 life prison terms.
Freudenberg, who lived in Manoa, was an engineering student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Myles Breiner, who has represented Freudenberg without compensation since 2005, said a Hawaii requirement for parole is that a person must complete a work furlough program before becoming eligible for parole.
But in the case of Freudenberg, the Hawaii Paroling Authority told him that it was looking for a suitable furlough program for him and never found one.
The state granted him parole without furlough in 2012 when Texas was initially willing to take him, but later retracted its offer.
The paroling authority in 1984 set the minimum term of imprisonment to 20 years each for the rape, sodomy and burglary charges and 10 years each for the sexual abuse charges, to run concurrently.
But the paroling authority reduced his minimum to 14 years each for the rape, sodomy and burglary charges so that he became eligible for parole in July 1996.
From 1996 to 2018, Freudenberg was denied parole 20 times.
Six months ago he was granted parole, and would be released if he found suitable housing.
Freudenberg has secured housing through the Institute of Human Services that was approved by the paroling authority.
“It was a surprise to all of us when they granted parole,” Breiner said. “He didn’t even show up. He figured they continuously said no.”
Breiner suspects the parole board finally granted him parole without furlough because there was a pending civil case against the state and the state attorney general in Circuit Court in which he sought “relief from denial of Due Process and Equal Protection and the Imposition of Cruel and Unusual Punishment arising out of his incarceration.”
As to the issue of the likelihood of his re-offending, Breiner said Freudenberg has successfully completed sex offender treatment programs four times during his 40 years in prison and has become a mentor to others, and a model prisoner without any misconduct.
He said the recidivism rate is low, just 3%, for sex offenders compared with those who commit other types of crimes. He attributes that to the required treatment programs, and monitoring even after release.
Freudenberg had been the in-house electrician at Halawa Correctional Facility. He was sent to Kulani Correctional Facility on Hawaii island, then returned to Halawa.
