Murderer of Castroville toddler granted parole after less than 13 years in prison.

On Wednesday, Sept. 18, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office issued a lengthy statement regarding the release on parole of David Leonardo, who was convicted of second-degree murder for the December 2011 killing of 2-year-old Priscilla Rose Hernandez at her home in Castroville, where he was meant to be taking care of her. 

Leonardo was sentenced to 15 years to life for the murder, but ultimately spent less than 13 years in custody. This came after Gov. Gavin Newsom, in March 2023, overturned a parole grant for Leonardo from his first parole hearing in October 2022. 

Leonardo had a second parole hearing in April of this year, after which the state Board of Parole granted Leonardo parole, pending Newsom’s review. In August, Newsom kicked it back to the board for a hearing to ensure, per the DA's statement, “to determine if the inmate had sufficiently mitigated his risk for family violence, sufficiently deepened his insight into his triggers for antisocial conduct and had developed coping skills to maintain healthy relationships.”

On Wednesday, the board concluded that he had, and granted him his parole. 

That was gutting news for Seaside resident Kora Sambrano, Priscilla Hernandez’s grandmother, and who spoke up at the hearing, highlighting the brutal nature of the murder she gleaned from a copy of the autopsy report, which was also summed up in the DA’s statement. 

When sheriff’s deputies arrived to the home, the statement reads, “Priscilla was not wearing a shirt and had several visible bruises on her body including her lower abdomen. Her eyes were open. Her body was pale and motionless. She was unconscious. Her extremities were cool to the touch. She had an open airway. Mr. Leonardo was talking rapidly and was visibly upset. It was then learned that Leonardo was Priscilla’s mother’s boyfriend who watched the children.”

It continues: “An autopsy was conducted. Priscilla had suffered blunt force trauma to her abdomen that caused tears in the lining of her abdomen and in her colon which resulted in internal bleeding, causing her death within minutes. Injuries to her mouth indicated she had been smothered sometime within 24 hours prior to her death. There were numerous bruises on her chest, abdomen, head, legs and arms.”

The Monterey County DA's Office opposed the release at yesterday's hearing, and per its statement, "[argued] that Leonardo did not demonstrate true remorse, instead, engaging in self-serving deception and impression management."

Sambrano says she had no idea how yesterday’s hearing would play out, and that nobody else did either. Now, after grieving her granddaughter for 13 years—she adds the murder broke relationships in her family that still haven’t been mended—she’s animated with new purpose. 

“I want justice for her,” she says. “We don’t have a registry for violent criminals, only sex offenders.” 

Sambrano wants that to change: “That’s my goal now.”