Convicted SLO County murderer to be released from prison early. Why?
A man convicted of murder in San Luis Obispo County as a teenager will be released from prison early after 16 years.
Patrick Wollett, now 36, was convicted by a jury in 2009 alongside Chad Westbrook, now 54, of the 2007 murder of Joshua Houlgate.
Wollett — who was 20 years old at the time — was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison for second-degree murder, plus another six years for assault with a deadly weapon, while Westbrook was sentenced to 67 years to life for first-degree murder, according to The Tribune’s past reporting.
Now, Wollett is expected to be released from state prison on Tuesday because he was deemed a “youthful offender,” the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release Wednesday.
Under California law, a youth offender is anyone who was under 26 at the time a crime was committed, making them eligible for early parole hearings.
“The idea of a youth offender parole hearing is based on scientific evidence showing that parts of the brain involved in behavior control continue to mature through late adolescence and that adolescent brains are not yet fully mature until a person is in his or her mid-to-late 20s,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website said about youth offender parole hearings. “Specifically, the area of the brain responsible for impulse control, understanding consequences and other executive functions is not fully developed until that time.”
“The younger a person is, the more susceptible they are to negative influences and outside pressures, including peer pressure,” the agency’s website said. “But as they age, maturity can lead to reflection that is the foundation for remorse, renewal, and rehabilitation.”
Wollett has been serving his sentence since June 3, 2010, and is currently in custody at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, according to the California Incarcerated Records and Information Search.
Wollett became eligible for parole in October 2023 and a panel granted him parole on March 5, 2024, a decision which was affirmed by the full state parole board on August 20, 2024, according to the database.
He is eligible for release upon reaching the youth parole eligible date of June 9, the DA’s Office said.
What happened in the case of convicted SLO County murderer?
Houlgate, who was 36, was killed at Wollett’s home at the Oceanaire Mobile Home Park in San Luis Obispo in 2007.
Westbrook shot Houlgate with a shotgun while Wollett beat both Houlgate and a woman with a baseball bat after they had sex. The woman had been engaged to Wollett’s brother, which is what prosecutors said prompted the crime, though she testified she never saw a weapon in Wollett’s hands.
Wollett requested a re-trial in 2010 due to incompetent defense, but he was denied.
Strangely, Houlgate’s parents wrote a letter to the judge in support of Wollett’s appeal: “We believe that Patrick’s culpability was not proven,” they wrote.
In 2019, Wollett became potentially eligible for a reduced sentence under California Senate Bill 1437, a criminal justice reform law that limited prosecutors’ ability to charge accomplices with murder, but Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth told The Tribune his petition was denied and has nothing to do with his upcoming release.
Meanwhile, Westbrook is in prison at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad and will be eligible for a parole suitability hearing in June 2028, according to the California Incarcerated Records and Information Search.
