Green sentenced 15 years to life in 37 year old murder case

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif - Judge Suzanne Kingsbury has presided over many murder trials during her career, but she said the murder of Jane Hylton stands out as the single most brutal murder she's ever come across.

Hylton was murdered on July 7, 1985, in El Dorado Hills. Hylton's body was found by her 13-year-old daughter Autumn, their roommate Ricky Davis and his girlfriend Connie Dahle. She had multiple wounds including 29 piercing wounds on her body and neck, including pierced lungs. Hylton was beaten on the face, was bit on the shoulder, and still had the tip of a knife in her head.

Autumn had met three boys at a park that evening, and one of them went to her home and killed her mother for reasons still unknown.

That boy is now an adult. 54-year-old Michael Green was sentenced to 15 years to life in Kingsbury's courtroom on Tuesday.

It has been a long journey to this point.

Investigators got nowhere in finding the murderer in 1985, and after a time, the case was closed. It reopened 14 years later in 1999 as part of an El Dorado County Cold Case investigation.

After investigation techniques that have since been questioned, Davis was arrested and convicted of Hylton's murder in 2005, though long professing his innocence. He was sentenced to life in prison and transferred to the California State Prison, Solano. Throughout the investigation, trial and imprisonment, Ricky Davis maintained his innocence. The Santa Clara School of Law’s Innocence Project learned about Davis in 2014, believed him, and then worked for six years to get him freed.

Advances in technology showed the DNA collected at the scene was not Davis's and he was cleared of the murder in 2020 and released from prison.

The new suspect became Michael Green who was 17 years old at the time of Hylton's murder and one of the boys Autumn met at the park the night of her mother's death. He was arrested in 2020 and was set to go to trial in October 2022 but he entered a plea of "no contest" in July.

Hylton was 54 years old at the time of her murder, and Green is now 54 years old as he faces several years in prison for her murder.

It was an emotional day in court as Jane Hylton's family shared their victims' statements. She left behind six children, two of who were pregnant at the time, and would have now been the grandmother to ten, and great-grandmother to nine.

Through what the current El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson calls questionable interviewing techniques and investigation, Autumn was labeled a suspect and law enforcement told her family she was responsible back in 1985, driving a wedge into a family already traumatized. Unable to find a place to live with family members, Autumn was placed into the foster care system. She told the court Tuesday that she felt abandoned by her family. When Davis was arrested she went through those labels once again, only recently being able to try and reconnect with her siblings - Hylton's children are now in the 50s and 60s.

"I spent 13 years of my life as an orphan in a large family," Autumn told the Judge.

It took 37 years for the person responsible for killing Jane to be held accountable. The family went through the initial ordeal, the 2005 trial of Davis, then Green's arrest and court appearances.

"The nightmare we share just will not end," said Autumn. She told Green "you may have only killed one person, but ruined numerous lives. We forever have holes in our hearts."

Defense attorney Margaret Huscher brought in numerous people to testify who were friends of Green when the murder took place. All said he was friendly, an athlete, a little silly, the life of the party. His ex-wife and mother of his child took the stand, telling the court she never saw him violent, never angry. Huscher also called in Dr. Elizabeth Cauffman, an instructor at UC Irvine and an expert in adolescent brain development. She explained that teens don't always have the right tools to process what is happening during their cognitive development.

Huscher asked the court to put Green on probation, and not send him to prison. Judge Kingsbury denied that request and sentenced Green to 15 years to life in prison. He will get 1435 days credit (957 days served and 478 days credit). Green will get 33 percent conduct credit due to that calculation being the law at the time of the crime. Kingsbury put him on lifetime parole once released. Green can appeal the decision within 60 days.

The case was prosecuted by Jay Linden.

"I wish the family peace and a better life going forward," said Judge Kingsbury.