Thread: Parole granted to ranch hand who committed double murder

By Stephen Hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/18/2008 11:39:18 AM MDT

SHAME ON UTAH
Posted: 11:39 AM- A ranch hand serving two concurrent 5-years-to-life prison terms for his part in a gruesome 1998 Duchesne County double-murder will be paroled Oct. 28, according to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
But because of an immigration hold, Filomeno Valenchia Ruiz will likely be deported directly to his native country of Mexico, parole board spokesman Jim Hatch said Monday.
Charged with two counts of capital murder, Ruiz, 44, pleaded guilty to lesser counts of first-degree felony murder.
But Ruiz has always claimed it was his boss, John R. Pinder, who kidnapped and shot former ranch hand Rex Tanner, 48, and Tanner's girlfriend, 59-year-old June Flood, the night of Oct. 25, 1998.
Ruiz - who testified against Pinder at trial - said he witnessed the slayings, helped blow up the victims' bodies with explosives and helped gather body parts because he feared Pinder would kill him, too.
John R. Pinder, 50, was convicted of two counts of capital murder and is serving consecutive terms of life with the possibility of parole.
An eccentric ostrich rancher who owned an African lion, Pinder is scheduled to have his first parole hearing in November 2028.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10237484

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