Questions surround release of Yakima jail inmate who then killed wife
October 2, 2017
By Phil Ferolito
YAKIMA, Wash. -- A Yakima County jail inmate whom local authorities expected to be deported when his sentence for assault concluded was instead released six weeks before killing his estranged wife and committing suicide.
Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic said Christian O. Parra, 35, was denied early release specifically to keep him jailed until Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers could take him into custody for deportation proceedings.
For unclear reasons, immigration officers did not take Parra into custody and he was released because county officials said they couldn’t legally continue to hold him.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Lori Haley said her office has no record of receiving notification from the jail of Parra’s release. But Yakima County Corrections Director Ed Campbell says ICE officers were notified.
Six weeks after he was released, Parra went to his estranged wife’s Sunnyside apartment where she lived with their three young children. Police said he shot her in the neck before shooting himself in the head. Nora Alcaraz-Madrigal died a short time later at a local hospital. Parra was pronounced dead at the apartment.
“It’s just extremely and tragically sad,” said Brusic of the Sept. 28 homicide-suicide. “It’s horrific, really.”
The couple had been married about 18 years. Their children were ages 3, 5, and 7.
Last December, Alcaraz-Madrigal told investigators Parra came to her apartment unannounced and severely choked her and forced her to have sex with him while two of their children were sleeping in the same room in a separate bed.
She told deputies that Parra had done this before but she never reported it because he threatened to kill her if she did, according to court records
She also told investigators with the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office that he was in the country illegally.
Initially, Parra was charged with second-degree rape as well as second-
degree assault, but the rape charge was dropped in a plea agreement after prosecutors said Alcaraz-Madrigal had problems recalling parts of the assault.
While at the Yakima County jail, Parra was identified as being here illegally by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who placed an immigration hold on him, Brusic said.
But because of a recent change in the way the jail handles such holds, Parra was released.
Previously, the jail would hold an inmate wanted by ICE officers after they served their time for any local convictions.
But the American Civil Liberties Union’s recent lawsuit against the county on behalf of an inmate over the practice, saying it violates inmates’ civil rights, has changed that. The holds are not signed by a federal judge, and corrections officers lack authority to execute them as a result, ACLU attorneys argue.
Immigration violations are civil infractions, not criminal offenses.
Corrections officers notified ICE officers that Parra’s release date was coming, but they did not take any action, Campbell said.
ICE has picked up several inmates as they’re released since the change, he said.
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