In 2004, Melvin S. Rowland admitted in court that he had attempted to sexually assault a teenage girl. At a parole hearing eight years later, he said he had forced her to have sex, and that he had done the same to two other women. Four years after that, as he moved in and out of prison, he talked about hurting a parole agent.
At his next parole hearing a few weeks later, his lawyer questioned whether Rowland was violent.
“I don’t have his full file in front of me,” the lawyer, JP Brummer, said in the 2016 hearing.