| For Immediate Release May 31, 2012 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
|
PAROLE DENIED FOR INMATE CONVICTED OF VALENTINE’S DAY MURDER OF BROTHER-IN-LAW
FOR DISCIPLINING DAUGHTERS FOR
DRESSING IN GANG ATTIRE
SANTA ANA – The Board of Parole Hearings (Board), California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, denied the parole late yesterday for an inmate convicted of murdering his brother-in-law because the victim had disciplined his own daughters for dressing in gang attire. Octavio Garcia Zetina, 43, is currently being held at Ironwood State Prison, Blythe, CA. The inmate was found guilty by a jury of one felony count of second degree murder with a sentencing enhancement for the use of a firearm and was sentenced May 5, 1995, to 20 years to life in state prison. Former Deputy District Attorney Bob Molko originally prosecuted the case.
Deputy District Attorney Marc Labreche attended the hearing yesterday to oppose Zetina’s parole. Before denying the inmate’s parole, the Board took into consideration Zetina’s violent history, the circumstances of the murder and lack of insight, and his recent prison rules violations. He will be eligible for his next parole hearing in 2015.
Murder of Jose Alvarenga
On Feb. 14, 1993, then-24-year-old Zetina was on probation for domestic violence. Jose Alvarenga’s daughters had told Zetina that their father had pushed their mother, the inmate’s sister, out of the way while she attempted to intervene in the argument Alvarenga was having with his daughters for dressing in gang attire. This upset Zetina.
Later that day, while at a birthday party for the victim’s 1-year-old son, Zetina shot and killed Alvarenga. The victim was a married father of three. The inmate told the victim, “I told you not to hit my sister…I’m going to kill you,” before shooting the victim five times, the last shot at point-blank range to the victim’s eye while the victim was on the ground as a result of the four prior gunshot wounds. Zetina killed Alvarenga in front of the victim’s children at the birthday party with other children present while Alvarenga was unarmed and helpless.
Violent History, Lack of Rehabilitation and Threat to Society
Three years prior to the murder of Alvarenga, a drunken Zetina grabbed the mother of two of his children by the hair, hit her in the face and dragged her on her knees across the street to a curb, where he then kicked her in the face. When contacted by police, he told the officers that “he was going to kill her.” A year prior to that domestic violence assault, the inmate called the police to report that he had pulled a knife on her, and that she had been accidently cut when she grabbed for the knife.
The inmate continues to prove his inability to follow society’s rules while incarcerated, as evidenced by his 2008 major prison rules violation for possessing a cell phone, and three other minor prison rules violations, the most recent occurring in 2009 for delaying a peace officer. Zetina also received two prison rules violations after his last parole hearing in 2006, where the Board recommended that he remain disciplined.