A Turlock man convicted of kidnapping and raping a 19-year-old woman has been granted parole after serving 21 years of a 15 years to life sentence.

Daniel Ray Slayter, 43, of Turlock was deemed suitable for parole by the State Board of Parole on May 27 following a hearing at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla.

In 1994, Slayter approached a 19-year-old woman who was working in the office of the Brentwood Apartments in Turlock. He forced her into her car at knifepoint and made her drive to a canal bank off of Highway 140. He raped her on the canal bank and then took her car, leaving her stranded on the side of the road. He was convicted of rape, kidnapping during a carjacking, carjacking, use of a knife, assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment and was sentenced to a 15-year-to life prison sentence.

The Stanislaus county District Attorney’s Office, represented by Deputy District Attorney Jeff Laugero, argued against Slayter’s release at the parole hearing, stating the parole board was using a “ flawed Comprehensive Risk Assessment” report in their decision-making process.

A Comprehensive Risk Assessment is a document prepared by a forensic psychologist which identifies and considers certain factors to determine the risk an inmate may pose to the community if released on parole.

In Slayter’s report the CRA noted that he had no prior sex offenses, no prior convictions for non-sexual violence and no male victims. But the district attorney’s office argued the report was not factually correct and presented evidence to contradict each of the CRA’s findings. Some of the evidence presented to the parole board included an arrest for statutory rape of a 16-year-old girl, an arrest for a strong-armed robbery of a pizza delivery man, a conviction for battery and vandalism of a male victim and a 1993 conviction on a charge of attempted burglary.

“Despite the presentation of these deficiencies in the CRA, and over the prosecutor’s request for a risk assessment supported by factual information," the board of parole "chose to move forward with the finding of eligibility for parole,” the district attorney’s office said in a released statement.

Slayter had previously been denied parole in 1997, 2000, 2005 and 2009, and waived his parole hearing in 2012.

Slayter’s parole will be reviewed by an administrative panel. If approved it moves to the governor’s office and the governor can either reverse it or grant it.