A man convicted 28 years ago of beating his friend to death was denied parole for the ninth time Tuesday, Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced.

Kenneth Roy Stark, now 60, was convicted of second-degree murder in connection with the June 1985 death of Ronald Meyers, who was fatally beaten with a tire iron and left to die in the Yolo Bypass. Stark was sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison.

On Tuesday, Board of Parole Hearings Commissioners Arthur Anderson and Steve Mahoney determined that Stark still posed an unreasonable risk to public safety should he be released from prison, according to Reisig. The commissioners noted “deceptive and misleading” statements given by Stark as well as an opposition letter submitted by Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto.

Stark, who is serving his sentence at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, will be eligible for parole again in 2019.

Reisig praised the efforts of his office’s Lifer Parole Division, which speaks out against releasing prison inmates they believe would pose a threat to society if paroled.

“The loss to the families in these cases is both unimaginable and immeasurable,” Reisig said in a news release. “We continue to do everything we can to support the Meyers family and all of the families on our lifer cases – that’s the very least we can do for all families who have survived similar tragedies.”

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