``Since Mr. Dabbs did not like Asians or blacks, he went through this neighborhood,'' said San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau, who spoke at Ly's hearing Wednesday. ``These were hate crimes.''
Ly's fate is in the hands of Gov. Gray Davis -- who earlier this year overturned the board's decision to parole Ly, 70.
Davis has indicated he viewed the case as a senseless murder committed in a cold and calculating manner, said spokesman Byron Tucker.
For the past two years, a former prosecutor who now is a judge also has been lobbying for Ly's release. San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge William Murray told the board the murder would not have occurred ``but for the racist actions of the victim,'' who ``began a campaign of vandalizing vehicles owned by the Hmong residents, ... acts of racism.''
Ly immigrated from Laos and did not speak English. He lived on welfare and had no criminal record before the shooting took place March 14, 1987.
Prison records how that Ly has been a model prisoner and attended counseling and vocational classes, and his diagnosed schizophrenia is in remission. Last summer, the prison-terms board gave Ly a release date of May 2002. In January, Davis reversed the decision.
Ly told the board Wednesday he just wants to return to Stockton, where he can be with his family, tend vegetables and perhaps work at his niece's store.