Utah
Former gang member who killed Utah postal worker seeks parole after 25 years
A former gang member from Los Angeles who shot and killed a postal employee in Utah after which shot at others who tried to assist the sufferer is in search of parole from the Utah State Jail after 25 years. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret Information)
Estimated learn time: 4-5 minutes
UTAH STATE PRISON — A former gang member who claims he was excessive on medicine when he went on a violent path of destruction 25 years in the past is now in search of parole for crimes that embody killing a postal employee on I-15, capturing at two individuals who tried to assist the sufferer, attempting to run one other lady off the highway, threatening to kill his ex-roommate and main police on a excessive velocity chase.
On Might 21, 1997, Jose Garcia-Miramontes mentioned he was excessive on acid when he sideswiped Lee W. Parker, 49, a father of 5, on the 7200 South onramp to I-15 as Parker was driving to his early morning shift on the U.S. Put up Workplace. After forcing him off the highway, Garcia-Miramontes shot Parker, drove a brief distance, then went again and shot him a number of extra instances. Parker was hit thrice, together with an execution-style bullet to the temple.
Garcia-Miramontes then shot at two extra individuals who had stopped to assist Parker. These folks weren’t injured.
As Garcia-Miramontes drove away from that scene, he tailgated one other lady and tried to power her off the highway. He then went to the house of a former roommate and tried to get a knife so he may kill her, in response to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. The girl was not injured.
After leaving that residence, Garcia-Miramontes stole a automobile and led police on a excessive velocity chase for about 10 miles earlier than being arrested in Fillmore.
In 1998, Garcia-Miramontes was convicted of aggravated homicide and tried aggravated homicide. At sentencing, prosecutor Robert Stott mentioned that if not for the needs of Parker’s widow, the state would have sought the loss of life penalty. He was as a substitute sentenced to life in jail with the opportunity of parole.
On Tuesday, Garcia-Miramontes, now 45, appeared earlier than the pardons board for the primary time.
Throughout his listening to, he talked about rising up as a gang member in Los Angeles and the way he moved to Utah to attempt to change his life.
“I used to be attempting to work and do good. … It wasn’t like I got here out right here to hold on with the gang stuff,” he mentioned.
However Garcia-Miramontes was nonetheless an energetic gang member on the time of the killing and remained a gang member for a number of years after being despatched to jail.
On the day of capturing, he mentioned he was feeling down due to struggles in his life and determined to take acid. Garcia-Miramontes claims it was the one time in his life he is used laborious medicine. As soon as the medicine took impact, he mentioned all he remembers about that day was a sense of paranoia and never understanding what was actual and what wasn’t.
“I keep in mind leaving the home the place I used to be at and folks I used to be with attempting to cease me,” he mentioned. “I simply keep in mind being on the freeway and seeing issues that weren’t truly there.”
In his thoughts, Garcia-Miramontes mentioned he thought Parker and the motorists who stopped to assist him had been enemies.
“I assumed I used to be operating into rival gang members of mine,” he mentioned. “They weren’t who I assumed in my thoughts that they had been.”
However throughout his listening to, Garcia-Miramontes additionally said a number of instances that he solely remembers parts of his crimes. He would not keep in mind attempting to run one other lady off the highway or asking for a knife to kill his former roommate.
“I could not clarify to you the way I received to her home,” he mentioned.
Whereas fleeing from police, he mentioned all he can keep in mind about that second is having the overwhelming feeling that “I needed to go see my mother for some cause,” he instructed the board. His mom lived in California.
Garcia-Miramontes gave a number of fractured solutions to the board’s questions on Tuesday, saying he could not keep in mind a lot of what occurred. He mentioned he doesn’t imagine he has a drug drawback and as we speak is not a gang member.
“I’ve nothing to do with them now,” he mentioned. “I simply needed to be accomplished with it. … I simply do not have a look at life like that no extra.”
He mentioned of the 23 disciplinary violations he had between 1999 and 2020 whereas incarcerated, most of these violations had been when he first arrived and was nonetheless adjusting. Garcia-Miramontes mentioned he would now like the possibility to be paroled.
“I used to be younger and I used to be dumb,” he mentioned of his previous actions. “I might wish to suppose I am wiser … extra affected person, humble. I am not what I was.”
Nobody from Parker’s household spoke on the listening to. The total five-member board will now vote on whether or not to grant parole.