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UTAH STATE PRISON — Last year, Trey Holloway-Brown's comments to Utah Board of Pardons and Parole member Angela Micklos seemed to confuse her.
"That doesn't even make sense," Micklos said at one point as the man convicted of manslaughter described what happened that day.
On Oct. 23, Holloway-Brown went back before the board. As board member Clark Harms noted, Holloway-Brown has done everything the board asked him to do since his last hearing, and he expected he would be paroled soon, according to a recording of the hearing, in which his answers seemed more clear.
On June 10, 2005, Holloway-Brown, drove from Wyoming to his estranged wife's apartment in West Valley City, got into a heated argument with her and a woman he believed she had a relationship with. The confrontation ended with Holloway-Brown killing the alleged lover, 29-year-old Norma Espinoza Hernandez, after he chased her into the parking lot, stabbed her and stomped on her. The autopsy showed Hernandez was stabbed six times.
Despite the judge noting the level of brutality in the fatal assault, Holloway-Brown struck a plea deal, pleading guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter, a second-degree felony. His sentence is set to expire in March 2022.
During his most recent parole hearing, Holloway-Brown, now 39, talked about how a domestic violence-related class he recently completed has been helpful in teaching him how to deal with day-to-day situations when he is released.
"Once you understand that everything is not going to be perfect all the time, you can prepare for it," he said.
When Harms asked Holloway-Brown to explain what went wrong on the day of the crime, he replied, "What didn't go wrong? Everything went wrong."
Once you understand that everything is not going to be perfect all the time, you can prepare for it.
–Trey Holloway-Brown
He said he now realizes he could have removed himself from the situation and not gone to the apartment in the first place.
Holloway-Brown said he is still married to his wife and has talked to her since being incarcerated, but is not sure if they will reconcile when he is released.
The full five-member board will now vote on whether to grant parole.
