Convicted Murderer Granted Early Parole After Serving Only 10 Yrs In Prison

District Attorney Thien Ho alerts the public to another violent inmate who was granted early parole. On October 17, 2023, the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation's Board of Parole Hearings granted inmate Jeffrey Powell early parole after he served just 10 years of his 16 years to life prison sentence. On December 1, 2023, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom requesting he intervene and refer this decision to the full Board for en banc review and rescission. On April 17, 2024, the Board of Parole Hearings en banc panel affirmed the parole grant.

In January 2013, Powell was on parole when he committed a home invasion murder. The murder was in retaliation for an earlier confrontation between his friend and a member of the victim's family.

• In the dark of night, Powell and his co-defendants kicked in the front door of the victim's home. Powell then rushed into the home and stabbed the sleeping victim multiple times. The victim's son and mother were home and tried to save the victim's life, but he bled to death on his living room floor.

• On March 10, 2015, a jury convicted Powell of second-degree murder and first-degree burglary and found true that Powell personally used a deadly weapon. The trial court sentenced Powell to 16 years to life in state prison.

• Based on the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation's published credit guidelines, Powell should have earned no credit during his incarceration in 2013 until May 2017, only 20% potential credit from May 2017 to April 2021, and only 33.3% credit after April 2021. Those credits are only to be earned for good behavior.

• Powell received an early parole consideration hearing and was granted parole after serving only 10 years after his brutal crime, which is a near 40% reduction in his sentence, despite engaging in significant misbehavior, including leadership in the Aryan Brotherhood white supremacist gang.

In addition to this brutal murder, Powell has an extensive and violent criminal history.

• Powell (age 40) has led a criminal lifestyle for nearly 23 years, including leadership in the Aryan Brotherhood until 2019.

• He has always been in custody or on supervised release since the age of 15.

• He received nine serious violations while in prison. While in county jail awaiting trial, he received seven disciplinary actions for conduct including three violent assaults and one racist behavior.

"Releasing an inmate who committed a senseless brutal murder and has shown no progress toward rehabilitation is a danger to public safety," said District Attorney Thien Ho. "I join the victim's family in vehemently opposing the parole decision and warn the public of this violent offender being released early into the community."