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Death penalty possible in Dystiny Myers’ murder

July 26, 2011

Dystiny Myers

A San Luis Obispo attorney’s motion to rule out the death penalty for one of the alleged killers of 15-year-old Dystiny Myers was denied Monday in San Luis Obispo Superior Court.

William McLennan, the attorney for Ty Michael Hill of Santa Maria, argued that his client should not face the death penalty because Myers was not kidnapped or tortured in the act of the killing as required for the death penalty.

The badly burned body of Myers, 15, was found in a shallow grave near Santa Margarita in September. She was found hogtied with her legs bound behind her, a glove stuffed in her mouth, sweat pants tied around her throat and her hands duck taped across her chest.

“While the victim was beaten and asphyxiated, there was no evidence that Ty Michael Hill or any of the defendants had the intent to inflict severe pain, beyond the pain of death, for a sadistic or other evil purpose,” McLennan said in his a motion.

Prosecutors said in February they are considering seeking the death penalty for Rhonda Wisto after they have more time to review the evidence. Wisto allegedly ordered the others to kill Myers because the teen disrespected her.

Hill was the alleged leader in carrying out the torture and murder of Myers.

The remaining three defendants–Cody Miller, Jason Greenwell and Frank York–will not face the death penalty.


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The remaining three defendants–Cody Miller, Jason Greenwell and Frank York–will not face the death penalty.


Here is the tragedy in this trial….Why are the remaining 3 defendants not facing the death penalty. They are all young enough that the State might have a chance to actually kill them. It takes about 30 years of lawyers wasting our money and these animals costing taxpayer dollars keeping them alive BUT maybe, just maybe they will out live the appeal process and get roasted. Makes me yearn for the vigilante days of old. Had this been my daughter none of this slimebags would ever have gone to trial


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I don’t understnad why they aren’t asking for the death penalty on Cody Miller. Wisto and Hill were the leaders but Miller did most of the beating and he committed the final act that took her life. That is one very mean and violent guy.

It’s frightening when one considers that 5 people would all go along with something like this. How do they find each other, I’m not aware that any of them had ever been in prison? For five of them to agree is just mind boggeling. The only one that tried to talk Wisto out of it was her son. I feel sorry for York, he didn’t participate in any of the beating, he didn’t want to be there, he wanted to leave and his mother told him he had to stay, how sick. I wonder if meth made them violent and if they did things they wouldn’t normally do? I know meth makes people paranoid but I never heard of it turning people into killers?


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Correction on your statement. It was Frank York that did a lot of the beating. Cody Miller was the one they beat up because they thought he might snitch them out. Go back and check if you doubt. Not defending Miller, just setting facts straight.


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I lived on the mesa decades ago and had many friends there. After moving here decades later I looked up these old buds. Jesus, most of them had morphed from pot-smoking 60’s hippies into scary methheads who lived like animals from the underworld. The mesa crawls with them.

Remember the film, “Invasion of the body snatchers”?

Supposedly these casualties are typical in rural America, Missouri being the worst. It’s amazing the drug originated in Oregon.

Take these killers and put them outa their misery.


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The whole episode seems so senseless. Nor was it done in the heat of the moment. They conspired to transport her from Nipomo to rural Santa Margarita, including beating and murder . . . all because she wasn’t a nice little playmate? Or did she threaten to expose their meth use?


The death penalty seems well suited for these idiots, but I imagine it won’t happen.


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“While the victim was beaten and asphyxiated, there was no evidence that Ty Michael Hill or any of the defendants had the intent to inflict severe pain, beyond the pain of death, for a sadistic or other evil purpose….” Ever wonder why there are so many lawyer jokes? Because so many lawyers are jokes.


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The legal defense of heinous murders are hard for all of us to deal with.


However, my touchstone is the Constitution and BOR. If these accused murders cannot get a fair trial, then none of us can get a fair trial.


I honor criminal defense attorneys because they are what stand between us and a complete government police state. Not all government prosecutors are honest and ethical, and there are many cases where someone has been in prison for decades because because the detectives or prosecutors needed a conviction to close a case and so withheld evidence, or even faked evidence, to convict an innocent person.


In the murder of Dystiny Myers, the identity of the murders seems pretty obvious to most people.


Still, if we as a society do not provide a fair trial for the accused in this case, we cannot guarantee that, if one of us gets falsely charged with a crime, or if one of our kids gets accused of a crime, any of us will be able to get a fair trial.


Finally, we have to remember that Atticus Finch (“To Kill a Mockingbird”) was a criminal defense attorney. Finch was not a real person, but his profile and the heart of the character was based on a real attorney. Finch stood up to nearly the entire town when he defended falsely accused Tom Robinson, and that took a kind of bravery and willingness to stand up for what one believes is correct that I honor.


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You’re right — Mr. McLennan is just doing his job, a fairly important job at that.


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Like it or not you are right Mary Malone.


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Check out the State Bar’s website for the email address of the Defendant’s attorney . . .


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What is this person’s definition of kidnapped? I he for real?


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She wasn’t tortured and kidnapped? They beat her with a baseball bat, one of the guy’s said hearing the bat slamming into her bones was making him sick. Then they stuffed her into a duffel bag and placed into a truck, then they beat her some more before stuffing a glove down her throat and suffocating her. She was alive when they did all those things, if that isn’t torture and kidnapping, I don’t know what is. I can’t find the smallest amount of possible mitigation for these four people, they all knew what was going on and did nothing to put a stop to it. This is one of those times when life without the possibility of parole is order or even the death penalty. That poor little girl, I could literally cry remembering this story.


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I agree…if this isn’t considered torture I think the word needs to be “redefined”. This wasn’t a simple gun shot or stabbing; it’s clear the the poor girl suffered for at least some time after the initial assault. It is also clear that these people are evil and sadistic; I wonder if this attorney can sleep at night after spewing out that type of nonsense.


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Mr. McLennan. She wasn’t kidnapped??????? So what she went along willingly??? Wasn’t tortured? So she bludgeoned herself and lite herself on fire??? Defense attornery’s are sometimes as bad as the scum they defend!!!!!


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The death penalty is an empty promise. Might as well not have it.


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