Tautai Seumanu cried as he recounted the night, 25 years ago, that landed him in prison from his mid-teens.
VACAVILLE — A 41-year-old man who has been incarcerated since age 15 was recommended for parole last month, after he confessed to playing a lesser role in a 1996 robbery and murder that sent his brother to California’s death row.
“I got choked up thinking about Nolan because due to years of doing some, some serious digging,” Seumanu told the parole board. He added, “The goal was to get money, we went to rob people to get money. We got the money. We should’ve just let him go.” Tautai Seumanu told the parole board his mentality as a youngster was clouded by an upbringing with “horrible” role models in an area where committing violence earned accolades. He admitted to firing shots at a house — hitting no one — when he was just 12 years old. Seumanu also said when he participated in a program to assist troubled youth in Wasco, he saw similarities between those teens and his own youth.