HOWARD YUNE
A state board has denied parole to a man serving 15 years to life in prison for a fatal drunken driving crash in American Canyon.
During a Sept. 24 teleconference, a California Board of Parole Hearings panel denied early release to Oscar Tapia-Felix, a 51-year-old former Napan, the Napa County District Attorney's Office said in a news release. Tapia-Felix has been held in the Avenal State Prison since his conviction for murder following a crash on the night Oct. 24, 2015 that killed Rosalina Abalos Punieg Perez, a 67-year-old San Jose resident who worked as a Napa State Hospital nurse.
According to Tuesday's statement and testimony in Napa County Superior Court, Tapia-Felix -- who had three previous convictions for driving under the influence -- had consumed 11 beers at Mi Zacatecas on West American Canyon Road before he drove away in his pickup truck with the headlights off, striking two parked cars as he left the restaurant. He ran two stop signs, sped into a residential neighborhood, then exceeded 80 mph while evading an American Canyon police officer on Highway 29.
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Tapia-Felix then ran a red light at Eucalyptus Drive, where his pickup struck a minivan driven by Perez. The woman, who was on her way home from her nursing job, died at the scene.
Prosecutors said at trial that Tapia-Felix had a blood-alcohol percentage of at least 0.20 on the night of the fatal crash, 2 ½ times the legal limit.
Tapia-Felix was hospitalized for six weeks after the wreck with two broken legs and a broken arm. After his release from Providence Queen of the Valley Medical Center, he and his wife went to Phoenix, where local law enforcement arrested him and extradited him to California in January 2016, the Register reported at the time.
A Napa County jury convicted Tapia-Felix in February 2017 of murder, gross vehicular manslaughter, and causing death by evading police officers.
"This wasn't his first rodeo," Deputy District Attorney Agnes Dziadur said during closing arguments at Tapia-Felix' trial, referring to DUI arrests in Napa in 2007 and in Arizona in 2002 and 1999. "... How many times does it take? Somebody had to die for his wakeup call? His wakeup call should have been in 1999."
Tapia-Felix applied for parole through Proposition 57, a 2016 state law that allows inmates convicted of certain felonies classified as nonviolent to pursue early release after serving time for their primary offense, even if charge enhancements have added more time to their prison term.
Tapia-Felix' next parole hearing is tentatively scheduled for September 2027, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
You can reach Howard Yune at 530763-2266 or [email protected].
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