The latest parole hearing was underway Tuesday for a man known as the jogger rapist.

Richard Gillmore admitted to raping eight women from 1979 through 1981, but he wasn't prosecuted for his crimes because the statute of limitations at the time was only three years.

In 1986, he raped Tiffany Edens in her Portland home. She was 13 years old.

Gillmore has been eligible for parole since 2001 and the parole board initially approved releasing him last December, but Edens sued because the parole board didn't follow proper procedures and a judge ordered the new hearing.

Background: Judge halts rapist's early release

“I have reserved optimism, because I don't trust the board,” Edens said. “I hope that they do the right thing, but their track record doesn't show that.”

Sixteen people, including other victims, were at the hearing to testify against his release.

Gillmore claims he should be released from prison because he has changed.

“It was a habit, it was something that I had learned to do when I was younger so I continued to do that because it wasn't checked. Now that it's checked I can change this, I can recognize... these feelings," he said during the hearing.

He also gave conflicting motives for his violent crimes. At times, he said what enabled him to rape was that he didn't see his victims as people.

Other times during his lengthy speeches, he said he raped women as a means of trying to fulfill an "emotional need." He was married during the years he stalked and raped women.

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Gilmore's victims said they believe life's stresses will re-trigger his violent behavior.

No decision was expected on Tuesday.

Officials at a halfway house in Salem indicated they would be willing to take in Gillmore if he's paroled.