Kaylee Ann Weisenberg is a step closer to freedom after serving 12 years of a 15 years to life sentence.
“Someone who recklessly uses very dangerous drugs and drives at a high rate of speed and shows no regard for human life — I’m concerned when I see them coming back to our community that they may do that again,” said San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow.
In 2011, Kaylee Ann Weisenberg was convicted of killing California Highway Patrol Officer Brett Oswald while she was driving high on methamphetamine.
The incident occurred on June 27, 2010. Officer Oswald was assisting a disabled vehicle when Weisenberg, then 22 years old, crashed into him on South River Road in Paso Robles.
“Our office prosecuted Ms. Weisenberg for second-degree murder under California law for driving a motor vehicle [and] killing someone when they knew it was deadly to drive while under the influence,” Dow said.
Last year, Weisneberg was denied parole. She tried again and the rehabilitation parole board granted her request last week.
The SLO County DA’s Office attributes this to Proposition 57, passed in 2016, which offers up to a 1/3 reduction in an inmate’s sentence if they get credits for good behavior.
“The way it was before Proposition 57, that person would have to serve every day of those 15 years before being eligible to ask for parole. Usually, even at that time when they are eligible to ask, they would still be denied for parole for a period of time,” Dow explained. “Now under this new law, people like Kaylee Ann Weisenberg and others convicted of violent crimes can basically move up their parole date earlier and get out before their sentence has been served.”
Fallen Officer Brett Oswald’s sister, Tricia Oswald, said the family strongly opposes Weisenberg’s parole suitability.
“We are concerned with the public’s safety, and the tragedy of this whole thing with the family. It is such a heinous crime of how it happened,” she said. “We just don’t feel she is ready to even be released.”
So what happens next?
“The decision now has 120 days to become final and after that, the governor has 30 days to potentially reverse the decision,” Dow explained. “My office is working on drafting a letter to the governor asking him to reverse the decision to release her. ”
For the DA's full response, click here.
KSBY News reached out to the Law Office of Tracy Lum who is representing Kaylee Ann Weisenberg, but we were told Lum was at a hearing.
