San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow is asking Governor Gavin Newsom to reverse a parole board's decision to grant parole to convicted killer Jason Greenwell.
Greenwell is one of five people convicted of murder in the death of 15-year-old Dystiny Myers.
In September 2010, Greenwell, along with Ty Michael Hill, Frank Jacob York, Rhonda Wisto, and Cody Miller, bound and beat Myers in Nipomo then buried her in a shallow grave near Santa Margarita Lake and set a fire. Myers' bound and partially burned body was later discovered in the grave.
In 2013, Greenwell pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison.
In November of this year, a two-person panel of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Parole Board granted Greenwell parole suitability.
That decision came after only 11 years because of Prop. 57, passed by voters in 2016. It allows convicted murderers and other violent criminals to reduce up to a third of their sentence on "good time" credits.
In a letter to Gov. Newsom, Dow writes, "It is our position that the parole panel disregarded and gave inadequate weight to the gravity of the crime this inmate committed and looked instead only at his behavior in prison. We ask that you review the case carefully and use your authority to reverse this improvident grant of parole."
Once an inmate is granted parole suitability, there is a 150-day period during which the parole board's legal office conducts a review of the case. After that, the governor can ultimately decide whether to uphold or reverse the decision.
Three of the other murderers in this case - Hill, York, and Wisto - are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. Miller took his own life in prison.
