SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Timothy MacNeil's family has been to every court hearing, hoping to keep his murderer and stepdaughter Brae Hansen behind bars.
"How are you feeling?"
"Good, a little surprised," said Shelly MacNeil, Timothy's niece. "I was expecting it to go her way."
On Tuesday, I called Shelly right after Hansen was denied parole. The board saying Hansen has no clear empathy and minimizes her actions.
"You can't skid out on these technicalities," Shelly said. "You brutally murdered him and planned it for a long time."
Hansen was 17 years old in 2007 when she plotted with her brother to kill their stepdad, 63-year-old Timothy MacNeil. She lured MacNeil into their Rolando home and hid in the bathroom, while her brother cornered and shot MacNeil downstairs. The two say they staged the murder as a robbery, hoping to get an early inheritance.
"I'm so so sorry about everything that has happened," Hansen said at her sentencing in 2009.
Hansen was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Her brother was given 25 years to life. A few years later, life sentences were ruled unconstitutional for minors. MacNeil's family fought to keep Hansen in prison…
"The only thing that's going to change is she's going to get smarter and work the system better," said MacNeil's family member.
A judge ultimately changed her sentence to 25 years to life, pointing to evidence of Hansen's troubled childhood. Hansen says she was abused by her mom. Her mother committed suicide when Hansen was a teenager.
Hansen, now in her mid-thirties, spoke at her first parole hearing on Tuesday. She acknowledged it was greedy and selfish to kill MacNeil, and said she's changed since then. But the board denied Hansen's parole, saying she still poses an unreasonable risk to public safety. And that there's no clear assurance she would act differently moving forward. Hansen is scheduled for another parole hearing in three years.
