 Thomas Trantino had been sentenced to life in prison for the shooting deaths in 1963 of two police officers in Lodi, New Jersey.The New Jersey State Parole Board was willing to release him once arrangements were made for making restitution to the survivors and in 1980 assigned Trautwein responsibility for setting the amounts.Trautwein refused to do so, saying, "It would be a gruesome, illogical, self-evident act of futility to order the restoration of the victims' lives."