(KRON) -- Leylani Simmons was 25 years old when she fled from East Palo Alto police while driving intoxicated and killed her passenger after she lost control of her car. Now 40 years old, Simmons has been found suitable for release on parole for a second time, according to the San Mateo County Distr ict Attorney’s Office. Simmons’ second parole hearing was conducted on Friday at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. The Board of Parole Hearings panel found, once again, that Simmons was suitable for release on parole. Simmons was convicted of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter with intoxication and felony evading in the 2011 police pursuit and crash that killed her passenger. She was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. In 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom reversed the first hearing’s decision to grant parole, citing Simmons misconduct while incarcerated. Newsom also acknowledged that Simmons made efforts to improve herself in prison, including earning her GED and associate degree and participating in substance abuse courses. Driver flees scene after fatal crash in Vallejo Newsom wrote in his Nov. 8, 2024, parole reversal that he “gave great weight to all the factors relevant to her diminished culpability as a youthful offender—susceptibility to pressure from others and her inability to extricate herself from the criminal activity occurring in her home environment—and her other hallmark features of youth.” The positive factors, according to the governor, were outweighed by the negative. “Ms. Simmons continued to engage in misconduct and use substances while incarcerated,” Newsom wrote in his decision report. “She has been disciplined for multiple incidents involving violent conduct in prison, including fighting, most recently in 2019. Ms. Simmons also engaged in violent conduct against peace officers, which in 2016 resulted in an in-prison conviction for battery on a non-prisoner after she scratched two correctional officers during a struggle.” In a risk assessment conducted in 2022, Simmons reported that she had disassociated from gang activity and maintained sobriety since 2019, according to Newsom. The governor, in his 2024 decision, encouraged Simmons to continue on a positive path and to “continue to engage in and internalize programming that addresses her risk factors for substance use relapse.” Simmons’ case is set to head to the governor’s office once again for review. ...read more read less