Gov. Newsom Denies Parole Of Murderer Who Killed Teenager In SF In 2004

Governor Gavin Newsom reversed the state Parole Board’s decision of paroling Royce Miller, a murder convicted of killing a San Francisco high school student in 2004, during the weekend, sending him back to prison until his next parole board review currently set for next year.

Since becoming Governor in 2019, Newsom has had a conflicted record in allowing or denying paroles, especially in high profile situations. In the past few years, Newsom has overturned Board of Parole decisions to release criminals, including the killer of a chaplain and RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan, However, at the same time, he has also not contested many parole decisions, including those of many murderers and Manson Family murderer Leslie Van Houten.

For many, Newsom’s reasonings vary wildly, with him often just saying if they still pose a public risk or not. For many, Newsom’s focus on prison closures and favoring other rehabilitation programs have played a part in many of his releases. For others, many are thought to be denied parole because of what the optics are in Newsom  releasing such a notorious person, especially with Newsom likely to run for President in 4 years. Political ads that featured the release of criminals by political candidates have not been forgotten today by campaign managers, especially the 1988 Willie Horton attack ad against then Democratic Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis that helped lead to his loss that year.

However, despite Newsom’s spotty record on denying parole to criminals in recent years, Newsom nonetheless reversed the Parole Board’s decision to parole convicted murderer Royce Miller during the weekend. Miller was convicted of the September 2004 murder of 17-year-old Maxina Danner in McLaren Park in San Francisco. Danner was found strangled and, because of phone evidence and later interviews, Miller was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years to life at age 21.

In 2013, Miller finally admitted to killing Danner but blamed cocaine use, saying to investigators, “I think the powder cocaine amplified my anger. I was already in a violent state of mind and willing to produce violent results, I think it was my ideology, never let somebody punk you out or look like a bitch. If somebody does something to you, make an example, street mentality.”

While he was expected to stay behind bars at San Quentin State Prison for quite some time, an assistant San Francisco DA recommended parole last year shortly before leaving their position. The family and law enforcement officials involved in the case, caught off guard by such an early release for Miller, scrambled to mount a defense, but were unable to convince the Parole Board’s mind, leaving the fate of Miller’s parole up to Governor Newsom.

Newsom reverses parole board decision

With Newsom’s uneven record of granting paroles, pressure soon grew to deny parole. On Friday, Newsom finally gave his decision, reversing the Parole Board’s ruling to release Royce Miller early.

“I have con­sid­ered the ev­i­dence in the record that is rel­e­vant to whether Mr. Miller is cur­rently dan­ger­ous,” the Gov­er­nor said in a state­ment. “When con­sid­ered as a whole, I find the ev­i­dence shows that he cur­rently poses an un­rea­son­able dan­ger to so­ci­ety if re­leased from prison at this time.”

Danner’s sister thanked Newsom in a statement during the weekend.

“We are grate­ful for the Gov­er­nor’s thought­ful con­sid­er­a­tion of this case and com­mend him and his team for mak­ing the right, though dif­fi­cult, de­ci­sion,” said Max­i­na’s sis­ter An­drea Welt­man. “My sis­ter was an ex­cel­lent stu­dent and tal­ented ath­lete, a loyal friend and a kind and funny per­son. She was loved and her life mat­tered. Crime vic­tims are not given jus­tice un­less we en­sure that crim­i­nals meet ex­act­ing stan­dards be­fore be­ing re­leased back into so­ci­ety.”

“This crime was ab­solutely sense­less and shock­ingly bru­tal. Mr. Miller has not demon­strated that he has gone through suf­fi­cient re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion that he would not be a dan­ger to some­one else and I am re­lieved that both the Dis­trict At­tor­ney’s of­fice and the Gov­er­nor reached the same con­clu­sion.”

Legal experts told the Globe on Tuesday that the parole denial of Miller wasn’t seen as unusual, but with Newsom’s track record, both eventualities were prepared for.

“Newsom can’t be predicted when it comes to things like this,” criminal law advisor Benny Forbes told the Globe. “Everyone thought he was going to keep Van Houten behind bars yet he let her go. And then with Sirhan he was getting a lot of pressure to let him out but he kept him in. But with Miller, it was also likely a bit personal. The murder happened in September 2004, with all the usual court proceedings happening after that. Guess who was Mayor in San Francisco during all of this? Newsom. He was the 36-year-old kid Mayor of the city back then. He was the one who had to help comfort grieving families and call for justice. So yeah, there was no way he was going to backtrack on this one.”

“But even if he wasn’t Mayor, this was a man who killed a teenager. Releasing someone like that, well, that would raise questions in, say, 3 or 4 years. He’s already going to have to deal with questions regarding letting Manson Family members out. And on top of all that, we all have to remember, this is a murder that is still fresh in people’s minds 20 years later. People are still grieving this. There was no way Newsom could justify letting him out. He’s denied people banking on “youth offender” and “elderly inmate” reasons. This one was him all but certain going to deny it. I have to highlight “all but certain” however. He’s had a record going every which way.”

Miller is up for parole next in 2025.