Parole Board Denies Convicted Gang Member Early Release

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — A bid for early release on parole by a gang member convicted of attempted murder was denied Thursday at a hearing held remotely via Zoom, Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch announced.

Oscar Perez, 34, had petitioned the Board of Parole Hearings under 2016 legislation that allows early release to inmates who committed their crimes when they were under the age of 23.

Perez was 20 and an active gang member at the time of a gang-related shooting on March 11, 2006 at an apartment complex on Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa, Ravitch said in a news release.

Perez and an accomplice drove with semi-automatic pistols to the complex, where a about 30 people were at a party being thrown by a rival gang.

Perez "fired multiple 9mm rounds into a car with three occupants leaving the party. One of the occupants, a young woman seated in the back seat, was struck in the lower back by one of the bullets, hitting her spine," Ravitch said. "She was paralyzed from the waist down as a result."

Perez then ran upstairs and fired numerous rounds at a second victim who had fled inside an apartment. Perez and his accomplice then fled the scene but were apprehended by Santa Rosa police.

Perez pleaded no contest to attempted murder and admitted personal use of a firearm and a special gang enhancement in 2008 and agreed to a total stipulated term of 29 years and eight months in state prison.

"I am very happy with the prison board's decision," Ravitch said in a statement. "This was a vicious gang attack resulting in the attempted murder of an innocent young woman. This kind of senseless violence will be met with vigorous prosecution and a lengthy prison term. It is in the interest of justice and the continued safety of our community that this defendant serve the full extent of his negotiated prison term."

In denying his petition the board noted that Perez was an active participant in prison gang activity and actively associated with imprisoned gang members, as well as having multiple rule violations and a new felony weapons conviction.

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