TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KMJ) —California Governor Jerry Brown reversed the decision by a parole board to release convicted murderer Gerardo Zavala.
According to a release, the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office objected to 46 year-old Zavala’s release at his most recent parole hearing on November 8, 2017.
Since Gov. Brown reversed the parole board’s decision, Zavala will continue to be behind bars instead of being released.
According to the DA’s Office, on January 24, 2001, Zavala and two others lured a 17-year-old African-American minor to a Delano house to smoke meth. When they arrived, they went into the garage where others were waiting. Th group jumped the victim while hurling racial epithets and accused him of conspiring to steal their property.
The DA’s Office says the group threatened the victim with an AK-47 and began to brutally torture him with electrocution from live wires, repeatedly inserted a squeegee handle into his rectum, and beat him with a pipe – all crimes assisted by Zavala.
After hours of torture, the DA’s Office says the victim was bound in duct tape and thrown into a car trunk, taken to a remote road outside Allensworth, and shot 10 times at point-blank range, killing him. The victim was found with the words “Pepe’s Bitch” written on his back. Zavala was arrested on January 28, 2001, and officials say he confessed to being part of the torture and murder.
Assistant District Attorney David Alavezos prosecuted five of the men involved in the mid-2000’s. Alavezos described the crime scene as “the worst I have ever seen.” Zavala was convicted in 2006 by a jury of second-degree murder, torture, and kidnapping. He was sentenced to 18 years-to-life in prison.
Co-defendants Jorge Vidal, Keith Seriales, and Daniel Portugal were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Another co-defendant, Tyrone Ebaniz, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. Brothers Juan and Gerardo Soto, also involved in the crime, are believed to have fled to Mexico.
“While the governor and I don’t see eye to eye on a number of different issues pertaining to the direction of crime and punishment in our state, I commend him for looking at the facts of this case and the brutality of the crimes committed by the defendant and reversing the parole board’s decision,” said District Attorney Tim Ward. “We would also like to thank Crime Victims United and local law enforcement for advocating against his release. The thought of this monster returning to our area is frightening.”
Click below to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
