Judge reverses governor decision, reinstates parole for SLO County teen’s murderer

A San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge ruled to reinstate parole for Royce Casey, one of three people involved in the 1995 murder of a teenage Central Coast girl.

The decision comes almost a year after Gov. Gavin Newsom denied Casey’s previously granted parole, stating in his ruling that Casey still needed to deepen his insight as to why he committed his crime before he could safely be released.

In July 1995, 15-year-old freshman Elyse Pahler was lured to a Nipomo eucalyptus grove and murdered by three of her classmates.

17-year-old Jacob Delashmutt, 15-year-old Joe Fiorella and 17-year-old Casey stabbed Pahler to death in a satanic ritual aimed to enhance the three killers’ death metal playing, court documents said.

The crime was “one of the most brutal and horrific murders in the history of San Luis Obispo County” according to court documents.

Casey confessed to the murder eight months later and led law enforcement authorities to the location of Pahler’s remains. In 1997, the court sentenced Casey to an indefinite term of 25 years to life in prison after Casey pled no-contest to first degree murder of Pahler.

In March 2021, Casey, now 43, was granted parole by two California parole board commissioners who determined he no longer posed an unreasonable risk of danger to the community.

They cited Casey’s 20-year record of model behavior, his participation in prison self-help programs and his level of insight into why he committed the crime, court documents said.

However, in July of that same year, Newsom reversed Casey’s parole decision after conducting an independent review. The governor said he found “Mr. Casey’s discussion of the causative factors for his involvement in the crime are concerningly lacking,” according to court documents.

In response, Casey’s attorney, Charles Carbone, filed a petition of false imprisonment in San Luis Obispo Superior Court in September, arguing that there was no evidence in his record to support the governor’s decision to reverse the parole decision.

Superior Court Judge Craig Van Rooyen reviewed the record and ruled in Casey’s favor, finding no link between the evidence on record and the governor’s conclusion. On June 6, Van Rooyen reinstated Casey’s parole.

In his ruling, Van Rooyen said “Casey has shown deep remorse and has discussed in depth why he killed Elyse Pahler. He has not minimized his actions or his state of mind.”

According to court documents, Casey has long-term goals of working as a drug and alcohol counselor in the Los Angeles are once released and has prepared a detailed parole plan which includes support letters from re-entry programs, potential employers and community members.

Pahler’s father, David Pahler, attended Casey’s parole hearing remotely in March and said he personally had “no concerns of Royce harming or being a harm to people,” court documents stated.

David Pahler said that although some of Pahler’s siblings were uncomfortable with the thought of Casey returning to the local community, they trusted the Board commissioners to make a fair decision.