The county district attorney’s office announced that governor Gavin Newsom has once again reversed the board of parole’s decision to grant parole to Royce Elliot Casey.
Casey was convicted in 1997 when he, alongside two other teenagers, plead guilty to the murder of a 15-year-old Arroyo Grande high school freshman: Elyse M. Pahler.
Pahler was murdered as part of a satanic ritual, strangled to death and stabbed multiple times. Assistant district attorney Eric Dobroth wrote a letter to governor Gavin Newsom, urging him to reverse the board of parole hearing’s decision to allow Casey to be released on parole, arguing that Casey remained a threat to public safety.
Governor Newsom’s letter that explains his decision says that he believes Casey must better understand the “internal processes” that led him to commit his crime. Newsom further said that he believes Casey poses “an unreasonable danger to society.”
