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SALINAS, Calif. - Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo announced today that Judge Pamela L. Butler sentenced 20-year-old Brandon Henley of Monterey, to 16 years to life in prison for the second degree murder of 23-year-old Daniel Ryan Youngblood.
The stabbing death occured on September 4, 2011. On that date, prosecutors say Henley was told by his ex-girlfriend to leave her home. They had been arguing about the ex-girlfriend texting Daniel Youngblood, the victim in this case. Within the prior month Henley had punctured the tires on the victim's car with a knife. Approximately 30 minutes after leaving his former girlfriend's home, Henley returned carrying a fixed-blade knife. He watched the victim drive into the apartment complex. Henley went to confront the victim and punctured a tire on the victim's vehicle. Henley then approached the victim with the knife in his hand slashing the victim's forearm and stabbing the victim more than 15 times.
Henley fled the scene immediately after the stabbing. An examination by Dr. John Hain, a forensic pathologist, determined that Daniel Youngblood's injuries were the cause of his death and consistent with defensive wounds.
On August 28, 2012, after five days of a jury trial, Henley decided to change his plea to guilty of committing second degree murder.
The investigation of this matter was initiated by the Monterey Police Department. Sergeant Mike Bruno, Detectives Jason Newby and Ethan Andrews' determined investigation quickly ended in the successful identification of Henley as the perpetrator of the murder.
Investigator Allen Rowe of the Monterey County District Attorney's Office assisted in the trial preparation.
