SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A man who was sentenced to 112 years of prison time for brutally killing five of his family members in 1996 has been denied parole.
Joshua Jenkins, who was 15 at the time of the killings, appeared before the parole board on Wednesday, Dec. 3.
Jenkins was accused of murdering his sister, parents and grandparents in a Vista condominium in Feb. 1996. He pleaded guilty to five counts of murder in a San Diego County courtroom in April 1997.
Jenkins had bludgeoned his older family members with a hammer and his younger sister with an ax; he attempted to cover up the murders by setting a fire inside the condo, so he was charged with arson as well.
Jenkins, appearing virtually for the parole hearing, stipulated via his attorney that he's mentally unfit for release for at least the next three years. His attorney says he needs to focus on victim impact, relapse prevention and other programs.
In response, prosecutors pushed for Jenkins' next parole hearing to happen five years from now, since he received the highest risk rating in his most recent psychological exam.
Parole commissioners accepted Jenkins' stipulation and agreed to a three-year interim until his next parole hearing.
Jenkins was eligible for parole after California passed a statute in 2017 that retroactively eliminated life-without-parole sentences for people under the age of 18. For those who were minors sentenced to life without parole before the statute was passed, they're eligible for parole at a youth offender hearing after 25 years of incarceration.
"My reaction is, I can take a deep breath ... It takes the fear off my plate, you can only imagine ... what goes through your mind if you think someone capable of what he did, to get paroled," said Jenkins' aunt, Sandy Sulzman. "I am steadfast in my feelings that he is where he needs to be, and I hope he never gets out."
