Defendant who testified in Dystiny Myers trial gets 15 years to life in prison

Jason Greenwell, the only defendant to testify in the Dystiny Myers murder trial, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison Tuesday, putting an end to a shocking case that began when the teen’s burned body was found partially buried in 2010.

Greenwell — whose testimony revealed the 15-year-old victim’s heart-wrenching final words — received the lightest sentence of the five murder defendants thanks to a deal reached with the District Attorney’s Office.

In exchange for his testimony, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on the condition that he be eligible for parole after 15 years.

“The evidence conclusively established that of the five defendants responsible for the murder of Dystiny Myers, Greenwell was the least culpable and participated in a limited way,” the prosecution wrote in a statement given to the county probation department for its pre-sentence report. “Greenwell expressed what appeared to be genuine remorse beginning the day after the murder. Jason Greenwell began cooperating with the investigation the day after his arrest and months before any possibility of a plea negotiation was ever raised.”

Each of the other defendants — Ty Michael Hill, Cody Lane Miller, Rhonda Maye Wisto and Wisto’s son, Frank Jacob York — all received sentences of life without the possibility of parole for their participation in the crime.

Myers, of Santa Maria, was a runaway who wound up staying at Wisto’s Nipomo home. During the trial for Wisto and York, Greenwell testified that Wisto and Hill planned to murder Myers because Wisto believed the teen had disrespected her.

Sometime on Sept. 26, 2010, after Myers announced she was leaving Wisto’s home, Hill and Wisto decided to act upon their plan, Greenwell testified, and enlisted the other male defendants to participate in the murder.

"Ty told everybody to get dark clothes on and to put on rubber gloves,” Greenwell testified.

In York’s bedroom, as Myers was being beaten and bound, she offered her final words, revealed in court for the first time during Greenwell’s testimony.

“She said to tell her mom she loved her,” he told a jury.

While Wisto wasn’t in the room during the attack, Greenwell’s testimony pinned her down as a conspirator, who urged her son to participate in the crime.

“Rhonda was in there telling him — instructing him — how to get dressed,” he said. “Jacob also said to his mom, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ And she said, ‘Sometimes things just have to happen.’

While Greenwell acknowledged during the trial that he considered himself a murderer, the prosecution said his testimony helped corroborate co-defendant statements and physical evidence.

“His testimony provided details of the crime that would have had significant value to the jury,” the prosecution’s statement read, “and was likely in part responsible for the remaining four defendants being convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.”

This story was originally published May 28, 2013 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Defendant who testified in Dystiny Myers trial gets 15 years to life in prison."