[Slowhand] Jim Gordon Update

[Kevin Wilson]

Patrick Flanary | RollingStone - Music | 17 May 2013 | Jailed Drummer Jim
Gordon Denied Parole
GORDON CO-WROTE "LAYLA" WITH ERIC CLAPTON YEARS BEFORE MURDERING HIS MOTHER
IN 1983.
Rock drummer Jim Gordon, who killed his mother in June 1983 after claiming
her voice had tormented him for years, was denied parole until at least 2018
at a hearing this April. A California board panel deemed the musician "a
danger to society if released from prison," citing his resistance to
court-ordered medication and counseling, according to a hearing transcript
obtained by Rolling Stone.
Thirty years after Gordon confessed to stabbing his 71-year-old mother to
death at her North Hollywood home, he continues to shows symptoms of
schizophrenia and is "medically and psychologically noncompliant," Los
Angeles County deputy district attorney Alexis de la Garza told the
three-member panel. "This is one of the saddest cases that we have in
prison. We have an individual who is seriously psychologically
incapacitated, and he is a danger when he is not taking his medication."
In 2005, Gordon told the panel he believed his mother was alive, a concern
highlighted during last month's hearing, which he declined to attend. Now
67, Gordon has also refused to meet with his attorney, who asked for a
hearing postponement until 2014, citing an online support community
petitioning for his release. "It's my hope that in a year's time those
people can reach out to Mr. Gordon and help him develop parole plans,"
Jeremy Valverde said. The panel denied his request.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Gordon racked up dozens of credits as one of
music's most in-demand session drummers - including work on albums by the
Beach Boys, John Lennon, the Carpenters and Carly Simon. But his substance
dependence and reputation for abusing women led to problems including
hallucinations and in-studio confrontations. In 1979, he turned down a tour
with Bob Dylan. Between that time and his arrest, Gordon checked himself
into hospitals more than a dozen times for treatment. His mother's voice had
grown louder and more relentless in his head, Gordon said, even threatening
to destroy his gold records.
"I just snapped," he admitted to detectives the day after the murder.
Following his trial, the judge sentenced Gordon to 16 years to life, with
his first eligibility for parole in 1992.
"He used to talk to me about hearing voices, but I told him that it was his
consciousness speaking to him. He said it was someone else," Bobby Whitlock
of Derek and the Dominos tells Rolling Stone in an email. "Evidently he
never stopped or even lightened up on his drug and alcohol intake. The end
result was the destruction of his family."
Gordon is perhaps best known for playing the piano climax of Derek and the
Dominos' 1971 hit "Layla", which he wrote with Eric Clapton. The song still
pays him well; California's deputy district attorney said that for years
inmates have solicited money from Gordon, which he has allegedly given them.
"In terms of parole plans, because of his condition it is our opinion that,
not only for the good of society but for his good, what needs to be done is
work on getting him a conservator, because I do believe he has a substantial
amount of income," de la Garza said at the hearing. "The question is: would
people be preying on him on the outside, as they have on the inside, because
of his finances?"
The panel recommended Gordon seek substance abuse self-help, and will
finalize its decision to deny parole for a five-year period in August.