They ranged from philanthropic, with notables like Lord Longford and a former prison governor campaigning for eventual parole, to outraged rejection.
So Mr. Morris petitioned a judge to review the parole board's rejections.
But he had asked a judge to review the parole board's rejections, and earlier this month, Richard Mott of State Supreme Court found that the board had acted "arbitrarily and unjustifiably" and asked for a new hearing.
In the 1990's, other appellate panels and the New Jersey Supreme Court, the state's highest tribunal, found flaws in the parole board's rejections of Mr. Trantino's applications.
The parole board announced its rejection of her parole petition shortly after the hearing.
In the ruling last month, the appeals court overturned the state parole board's latest rejection, made last November.
Most of the parole board's nine rejections of Mr. Trantino's applications have been preceded by protest rallies and candlelight vigils by police officers and county officials.
There is an amazing press photo that was taken by Peter Phun for The Desert Enterprise, a newspaper in Palm Springs, which shows a beautiful but haunted Leslie Van Houten being walked before the press in 2002 on her way to a hopeful court hearing to overturn the board's rejection of her parole.
The appeals court ruling issued last Friday rejected as unreasonable the latest rejection of Mr. Trantino's parole in June.
