UTAH STATE PRISON — Robert Austin waited 20 years to speak to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.

He was just 16 when he and Michael Munson, 24, stabbed Munson's grandfather, Edward John Anderson, 67, to death inside his Ogden house in 1996. They also injured Anderson's wife, Wanda Anderson, 72.

Munson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Austin, of Washington Terrace, pleaded guilty to aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and aggravated robbery. In exchange for his guilty pleas, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. Instead, Austin was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the murder and five years to life on the other charges. The judge ordered the sentences to run consecutively.

Austin was 17 when he arrived at the Utah State Prison.

Since then, Austin has sent the pardons board numerous letters claiming his sentence is unjust. He has also filed motions in court requesting the chance to appeal his sentence nearly two decades later.

On May 24, Austin had his first parole hearing before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. Because of his repeated requests to be heard, board member Denise Porter started the hearing by taking the unusual step of telling Austin that the floor was his and that he could use his one-hour hearing any way he chose.

"You've waited a long time for today," Porter said in a recording of the hearing obtained by the Deseret News. "What I've decided to do is let you conduct your hearing. … You get to talk to me today about whatever you want. You have waited 20 years for this day."

"Nothing I can say can make up for what I did. There's no excuses. What I want you to understand is I was only 16," Austin began. "I didn't go into this trying to hurt someone. I didn't go trying to kill someone like the prosecution tried to make it out. I was a kid, and I was high, and all I wanted was to get more money. I can't make excuses for what I did. I know that I'm totally responsible for my actions."

Austin said he was using a lot of drugs and alcohol in the weeks leading up to the killing.

"I wasn't just high and drunk that night. I had been high and drunk for the last two to three months. And a lot of what happened during that time I don't really recall," he said.

Many times during his hearing, Austin said he wanted to "do whatever I can to help make up for the choices I made" and do "everything I can to better myself."

"I don't know what else to do. I've been doing everything I can to make myself a better person," he pleaded with Porter. "I know you might not be able to let me out. I know you might not consider me (for parole). But give me a direction. Show me that you care about my life so I can do something and make myself worth something so my life has meaning."

Called out on his claims

But when Austin was done talking and Porter had a chance to ask questions, she called him out on some of his claims, pointing out that his words and his actions in prison don't match.

"You say to me, 'I'm doing the best I can, I'm avoiding all (trouble) I can.' But you're actually not," she said.

Austin has been in maximum security ever since arriving at prison. Shortly after being incarcerated, he got a "SAC patch," a tattoo showing allegiance to the Soldiers of Aryan Culture, a white supremacist prison gang.

"You and I both know the SAC patch was a bad call," Porter said.

Porter also noted that Austin got in trouble when prison officials found a shank in his bunk. Austin claimed it was for protection.

On another occasion, he and other inmates were disciplined for staging a protest by throwing their food at prison officers. He claimed it was because another inmate was disrespecting them and nothing was being done about it.

"I do my best to stay out of trouble. I'm kept around inmates that are all high-profile," he said. "No matter how good you are, how civil you are, you're going to get in trouble in a place (where) you're kept around the same type of people over and over.

"Stuff just happens here in prison. I can't avoid every circumstance," he contended.

Austin said because he has no potential parole date in sight, he has not been allowed to participate in certain programs offered by the prison. But Porter told Austin that he needs to stop blaming everyone else for his situation and to start taking more responsibility for his own actions.

"Change doesn't come from a friend who's a jailhouse lawyer, it comes from you," she said.

Porter noted that in the last letter Austin sent to the board, there wasn't one mention of his victims. It was all about how unjust he feels he has been treated.

"There was a man that died that night. You can't forget it," Porter said. "It's not always just about you."

She told Austin he has been making "better choices" since 2013, but said if he wants to get moved out of maximum security and start taking some of the classes he is currently not allowed to attend, then he needs to have "no disciplinaries — none — for anything," Porter warned.

The full five-member board recently voted to set a rehearing in January 2019 and encouraged Austin to complete substance abuse treatment and any other case action plan programming before the hearing.

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