The State - News from April 7, 1989

A novelist and former Oscar nominee who had been convicted of stealing about 800 books from nine libraries was released after serving about three months in the San Luis Obispo County Jail. Gustav (Gus) Hasford, 41, co-writer of the screenplay for the movie “Full Metal Jacket,” was released 28 days before he would have been eligible for parole and 88 days before he would have finished his six-month sentence. Hasford’s attorney, Orlan Donley, told San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Warren Conklin that Hasford had a chance to go to France to work on a movie based on a book he had recently written. Conklin said he released Hasford early because the writer had a job and agreed to pay restitution.