Nearly three decades after a double homicide that rattled West Valley City, 48-year-old Phillip Michael Leishman is asking the state to let him go home.
Leishman appeared before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole this week, making his case for release after serving time for a 1997 double killing. He told the board he grew up surrounded by violence, described a childhood where “violence was normal,” and said he had been handling guns since his early teens. He also expressed remorse for the murders.
The one-hour hearing was anything but calm. Family members of one victim spoke sharply against Leishman’s possible release, openly questioning whether he should ever walk free again. Leishman pleaded guilty in 1998 to two counts of aggravated murder and received two concurrent life terms with the possibility of parole. The board was told he racked up disciplinary issues earlier in his prison stay but “hasn’t had one since 2020,” according to KSL.
How investigators say the shootings unfolded
Prosecutors have long tied the shootings to a dispute over a stolen car stereo. They say Summer Johnson drove Leishman and another man to Derek “Snyper” Shaw’s West Valley apartment on Jan. 19, 1997. When Michael Allgier knocked on the door, he was shot in the back of the head. Shaw was also shot, and both men later died from their injuries. Those details, along with the plea agreement that followed, were reported by Deseret News.
What the board weighs and victims' role
For all the emotion in the hearing room, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole is bound to a checklist that goes well beyond any single speech. The panel looks at the nature and severity of the original crime, an inmate’s behavior while locked up, treatment and programming, and the impact on victims and their families.
If the board decides Leishman should be released, it can attach strings such as mental health treatment, no-contact orders, or electronic monitoring. Victims are not sidelined in that process: they are notified about hearings and allowed to participate, and their statements are recorded and factored into the final decision, as outlined by the Board of Pardons & Parole.
Next steps
The full five-member board is expected to issue its decision in about a month. If it grants parole, it will also spell out conditions aimed at protecting the public.
In the background, state records show Leishman has continued to engage the legal system from behind bars. That includes a 2024 Government Records Office appeal over inmate records, listed as decision 2024-193 in state files maintained by the Utah Division of Archives and Records Service.
