Bio

Robert Holguin was born around December 15, 1991. As a child, he was known to have learning difficulties, possibly stemming from earlier brain damage, along with a documented low IQ and emotional problems that were later discussed extensively in his juvenile court proceedings.

Murder Story

On February 26, 2005, when he was 13 years old, Holguin broke into the San Luis Obispo trailer home of 87-year-old Gerald O'Malley and beat him to death using a skateboard. After the attack, rather than fleeing immediately, Holguin went home, retrieved a padlock, returned to O'Malley's residence, and locked him inside the home, where he died in a pool of his own blood on the kitchen floor. Holguin then stole O'Malley's car.

On May 5, 2006, Juvenile Court Judge Teresa Estrada-Mullaney sentenced Holguin to the custody of the state's Division of Juvenile Justice (at the time still known as the California Youth Authority), the maximum disposition available under California law for an offender of his age — confinement until his 25th birthday, at the state's discretion based on behavior. The defense had argued that the agency was too violent, overcrowded, and ill-equipped educationally and psychologically to rehabilitate the boy, whose IQ and emotional difficulties were highlighted during the hearing; one defense psychologist testified that placing him in the system was "just like throwing him away," while agreeing that punishment was warranted given the brutality of the killing and Holguin's actions in locking O'Malley inside his home to die. In her ruling, Judge Estrada-Mullaney specifically cited that detail as an aggravating factor. Prosecutor Andrew Baird stated at the time that alternative placements, such as a group home, would represent too lenient an outcome given the crime.

During his time in custody, Holguin was at some point transferred from a youth correctional facility to Patton State Hospital, a state psychiatric facility in San Bernardino. He made multiple documented suicide attempts while incarcerated: in 2009, he attempted to hang himself and smeared "666" in blood on his cell door; in 2011, he again attempted to hang himself, smeared feces on the walls of his room, and wrote "kill me" on a wall using his own blood, according to a later statement from then-Governor Jerry Brown's office.

In March 2014, California's Juvenile Parole Review Board unanimously found that Holguin no longer posed a threat to the public and voted to release him. However, Governor Brown vetoed this decision after state and federal investigators determined that, on June 4, 2012, Holguin had hacked into a state-owned computer system, accessed the governor's website, and sent Brown a threatening and obscene email. The parole board again voted for his release in 2015, and Brown again vetoed the decision, citing what he described as a continuing "pattern of disturbed thinking and manipulation."

Litigation followed over whether the governor had the legal authority to veto parole decisions involving juvenile offenders; a San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge ultimately ruled that a 1988 ballot initiative, Proposition 89, gave the governor this authority even in juvenile cases.

In March 2016, the parole board voted for Holguin's release a third time, citing improvements in his behavior, participation in therapy, and plans for life after release. This time, with only months remaining before he would legally have to be released regardless, Governor Brown did not exercise a veto. A San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge formally ordered his release following a reentry disposition hearing. In April 2016, at age 24, Holguin was released from California's juvenile justice system and relocated to Texas to live with a family member, under a supervised transition arranged by San Luis Obispo County probation authorities, lasting until his 25th birthday on December 15, 2016. After that date, under California law, he became free of any further supervision or legal restriction tied to the case, provided no separate mechanism existed under Texas law. San Luis Obispo County's District Attorney's Office confirmed there were no legal restrictions preventing Holguin from returning to San Luis Obispo County, though officials stated they were not aware of any reason he would do so.