This is the book I wish had existed when I started this work.
It didn’t — so I wrote it.
--- Renegade Attorney
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After more than twenty-five years of walking into hearing rooms most people never see, I am finally putting it all in writing. I am thrilled to announce that my forthcoming book, Standing Up for Lifers: A Renegade Attorney’s Fight Inside the California Parole Hearings, will be available on Amazon by the Fall of 2026 through Renegade Attorney Press on AMAZON.
What This Book Is Really About
There is a piece of advice that circulates through California prisons like received wisdom: confess, express remorse, show insight — and the Board will grant you parole. In twenty-five years of representing incarcerated men and women at Lifer Parole Suitability Hearings across all thirty-plus California state prisons, I have watched that advice destroy more cases than any district attorney’s opposition brief. In cases involving innocent people, it is catastrophic.
The California Board of Parole Hearings is looking for one thing above all else: genuine insight — real self-awareness, not rehearsed remorse, nor “Parroting” the Police Report or the Probation Officer’s Report (POR). After hundreds of hearings, I have learned what works, what destroys cases, and what the Board never says out loud but always looks for. This book puts that knowledge in writing for the first time.
The question is never what a person did. It is who they are now.
Ten Real Cases. No Easy Answers.
Standing Up for Lifers walks readers through ten hand-picked real cases — covering murder, sex crimes, kidnapping, pedophilia, and more. Each case reveals what happened inside the hearing room, why commissioners ruled the way they did, and what could have been done differently.
These are not simple cases. A man who maintained his innocence for thirty-two years — and was finally granted parole. A former Iranian provincial governor convicted of murdering his wife, who never wavered in his denial across three decades. A survivor of childhood sexual abuse who became a perpetrator himself, and who answered the hardest question in Lifer advocacy with nineteen years of radical transparency. A man who served forty-two years, survived twelve parole hearings, and then waited five months to find out whether the Governor would undo what a panel had decided on the evidence. These are the cases I argued. I won some. I lost some. In every one, I gave that person everything I had.
Who This Book Is For
This book is written for attorneys and legal workers entering or deepening their practice in this field. It is written for the families of incarcerated individuals — who often understand more about their loved one’s case than anyone else involved and who deserve a real guide to what this process looks like from the inside. It is written for forensic psychologists, advocates, and anyone who wants to understand a corner of the American justice system that affects tens of thousands of people and receives far too little public attention.
There are rules the Board will never put in writing. There are expectations no one will say out loud. And there are people serving extra years because no one told them. This book does.
What the Experts Are Saying
“Diane Letarte is among the most prepared and strategically sophisticated legal professionals I’ve encountered. She valued the science — coming to me with a clear-eyed understanding of what a Lifer Evaluation must address rather than simply seeking a favorable report. Standing Up for Lifers is the book this practice has needed for decades. It is rigorous, honest, and written by someone who lived it, hearing room by hearing room, client by client.”
— Joseph R. Nevotti, Ph.D., Q.M.E., Licensed Psychologist
“In my 40+ years of conducting criminal investigations and recently post-conviction work, Ms. Diane Letarte is by far one of the better criminal defense attorneys in California. In my review of her recent representation of an inmate in a Parole hearing, she presented one of the best defense and arguments on behalf of her clients I have ever reviewed. It shows that Diane Letarte really enjoys her work, fights hard for her clients and is a very strong advocate in every sense of the word. Hats off to Ms. Letarte.”
— Private Investigator, Post-Conviction Specialist
Pricing & Availability: FALL 2026 on Amazon.
• Paperback: $29.95
• Hardcover: $44.95
• eBook: $14.99
Watch for the release announcement here on this blog and/or at www.dianeletarte.com
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