Parole was denied this week for a former police officer serving a life sentence for killing a man outside a Watsonville bar in 1987.
Juan Torres, 71, was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of Thomas Tacardon in 1990, after his first trial ended in a mistrial.
According to records, Tacardon and his sister were celebrating a birthday at a bar on Freedom Boulevard on Feb. 15, 1987. The two began laughing at the way Torres flipped a cigarette into an ashtray and an altercation ensued, witnesses testified at trial. Torres then challenged Tacardon to a fight outside the bar, but the altercation was defused. Witnesses also testified that Torres left the bar and came back with a gun, and once again challenged Tacardon to a fight. Torres then shot 35-year-old Tacardon in the face with a handgun and drove off. He was arrested at his Freedom home about four hours later.
Torres was an officer with the Hollister Police Department in the early 1970s and later served as a reserve sheriff’s deputy in San Benito County, records show.
Torres was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison for the murder, according to the Santa Cruz District Attorney’s Office. A state parole board denied his second bid for parole in a hearing held Tuesday at Solano State Prison.
After reviewing the crime and Torres’ progress while incarcerated, the parole board determined Torres continues to pose “an unreasonable risk to society if released at this time.”
Assistant District Attorney Erika Ziegenhorn attended the hearing to argue against Torres’ release. Torres will not be eligible for another parole hearing until 2017.
