Annika Östberg

On November 16, 2009, a Swedish court decided that her life sentence should be time-limited so that she can be released in May 2011, more than 30 years after her arrest. On August 8, 2010, Östberg hosted the program Sommar on Sveriges Radio. She was released on May 2, 2011, after having been locked up for 30 years, since May 1, 1981, a longer prison time than almost any Swedish citizen.

The question of being transferred to a Swedish prison is outside the scope of a parole hearing. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused in an interview in August 2005 with Swedish television to let her be transferred to Sweden to serve the remaining period in her native country. In April 2009 she was finally transferred after years of silent diplomatic activity. It is believed that the financial crisis in the United States and the fact that prisoners are a burden on the economy was one reason for the transfer. Östberg became one of the first prisoners to be transferred under the new rules.

Östberg was denied parole and was refused transfer to Sweden in 1997, 2002, 2005, and 2008.

Some believe that if she was convicted in Sweden she would get 6–7 years imprisonment. In another case in Sweden, the 1988 Åmsele murders, the girlfriend was sentenced to two years for doing nothing to prevent Juha Valjakkala from committing a triple murder. That girl did not reload a gun or similar, but just watched the murders silently. In that case the boyfriend was sentenced to lifetime in prison. Under California law she is just as culpable as her boyfriend because she was an active participant. Her lawyers negotiated a plea bargain that spared her from a death sentence.

In 1983, Annika Östberg received a sentence of 25 years to life for the 1981 murders. At that time it was customary for well-behaved prisoners to be set free after serving approximately half of their sentence. Documents from that period indicate that Östberg's lawyers believed she could be out after 12 ½ years. Previously, life prisoners served their sentences according to the law and their behavior in prison. However, this was not the case after 2000. Politics changed throughout the years, and as the sentencing laws changed, so did the mindset of the Board of Prison Terms and the Governor's office in Sacramento.

On April 30, 1981, Östberg and her boyfriend Bob Cox robbed and killed ex-restaurant owner Joe Torre. Östberg sold stolen meat to restaurants and had made an appointment in a warehouse with Torre. While she pretended to bring the meat out of the truck, Bob Cox shot him. They robbed Torre and drove away. When their vehicle broke down on the highway the next day, Sgt Helbush stopped to render aid. According to Lake County district attorney Lester Fleming, evidence exists that Östberg may have shot Sgt Helbush as he walked back to his patrol car. Östberg stated that while she pretended to search for her driver's licence, Cox shot Helbush in the back of the head. Östberg told Cox to get rid of the body. They stole the policeman's wallet and the police car.

Östberg was convicted of theft in 1973 and received 18 months probation. Also in 1973, she was convicted of possession of a controlled substance and received three years probation. In 1976 she was convicted of providing liquor to a minor and received 12 months probation, one day in jail, and was ordered to pay a $65 fine.

In 1972, a man was stabbed to death in Östberg's apartment in San Francisco. Östberg admitted perpetrating the crime and was found guilty.

Annika Östberg grew up in Hässelby in Stockholm, and moved with her mother to California in the 1960s. She ran away from home to San Francisco, where she became a drug addict. She married Brian Deasy and gave up drugs, but when the marriage failed she resumed her drug habit.

Annika Maria Östberg Deasy (born January 6, 1954) is a Swedish citizen formerly incarcerated in California for an undetermined period (25 years to life sentence). She was convicted of first-degree murder of a restaurant owner and a police officer in 1981. In April 2009, after 27 years in a California prison, Östberg was handed over to Swedish authorities and transferred to Sweden, and incarcerated in the Hinseberg women's prison north of Örebro. She was later fully released.