District Attorney urges Governor to reverse the Parole Board’s granting parole to Jason Adam Greenwell for the brutal 2010 murder of Dystiny Myers
Author: District Attorney
Date:
12/22/2021 3:14:33 PM
District Attorney Dan Dow writes letter to Governor Newsom urging him to exercise his authority to review and reverse a parole board’s decision last month to grant convicted murderer Jason Greenwell parole despite objections.
On November 18, 2021, a two-person panel of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Parole Board granted parole to Jason Adam Greenwell (32). Greenwell was one of five defendants convicted in September 2010 for the vicious slaying of 15-year-old Dystiny Myers in Nipomo.
A representative of the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office along with members of Dystiny’s family attended the parole hearing by video and strongly objected to his parole based on the vicious nature of the crime and continued danger to the community should he be released.
“When the voter’s approved of Proposition 57, they did not expect that it would allow a child murderer to be released early from prison,” said District Attorney Dan Dow. “We will continue advocating for Dystiny’s family and the safety of our community by urging the Governor to reverse this reckless decision. Allowing a child murderer to be paroled before serving his full and just sentence is the wrong message to send to Californians.”
Greenwell and his crime partners bound and savagely beat young Dystiny, then buried her in a shallow grave near Santa Margarita Lake. Before they fled, they set her body on fire. Dystiny’s bound and 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. At the time of his sentence individuals convicted of murder were not eligible to receive “good time” credits toward their sentence, but rather were required to serve the full 15 years before a hearing to determine parole suitability. Not only was Greenwell allowed a suitability hearing after only 11 years, but he was also granted parole by the Board of Parole Hearings.
In 2016, Proposition 57 was passed which provides individuals convicted of violent crimes, such as murder, to receive up to a 1/3, or 33%, reduction in their sentence. As a result, Greenwell was granted parole after serving only 11 years for his part in the murder even though this was Greenwell’s first parole hearing since his conviction.
Three of the murderers, Ty Michael Hill, Frank Jacob York, and Rhonda Wisto, are serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole. A fourth, Cody Miller, took his own life while in prison in June 2016.
A copy of the letter sent to the Governor can be found here.
Please contact Assistant District Attorney Eric J. Dobroth at 805.781.5819 with any questions.
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