HOUSTON (AP) — The lady convicted of killing Tejano music legend Selena Quintanilla-Pérez has been denied parole and can proceed serving a life sentence for fatally taking pictures the rising younger singer at a Texas motel in 1995, the state’s parole board introduced Thursday.
Yolanda Saldívar, 64, was up for parole for the primary time for the reason that killing of the singer, identified to followers as merely Selena.
One of many first Mexican American artists to interrupt into the mainstream music scene, Selena shattered obstacles for ladies in Latin music. She was 23 years outdated and on the verge of crossing over into English-language pop superstardom when she was killed.
The singer’s household and Chris Pérez, her widower, expressed gratitude to the Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles.
“While nothing can bring Selena back, this decision reaffirms that justice continues to stand for the beautiful life that was taken from us and from millions of fans around the world far too soon,” they stated in a press release posted on social media.
In explaining the choice to disclaim parole, the board stated in a press release that the panel discovered that Saldívar continues to pose a risk to public security. It additionally stated the character of the crime indicated “a conscious disregard for the lives, safety, or property of others.”
Saldívar, who’s serving her sentence in a Gatesville jail, can be eligible to be reviewed once more for parole in 2030.
Saldívar based Selena’s fan membership and was the supervisor of the singer’s clothes boutiques, Selena And so forth., till she was fired in early March 1995 after cash was found lacking.
Selena, a Corpus Christi native, was shot within the again with a .38-caliber revolver at a Days Inn motel in Corpus Christi on March 31, 1995. She was in a position to run to the motel foyer, the place she collapsed, and she or he was pronounced lifeless at a hospital an hour later.
Motel workers testified that Selena named “Yolanda” in “room 158” as her attacker.
“I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t mean to kill anybody,” a sobbing Saldívar stated throughout a nine-hour standoff with police. She instructed officers she had purchased the .38-caliber revolver to kill herself.
Greater than 50,000 folks lined as much as view Selena’s physique the day earlier than she was laid to relaxation in Seaside Memorial Park on April 3, 1995, simply 13 days earlier than her twenty fourth birthday.
Saldívar’s trial was moved to Houston due to the publicity surrounding the case. Saldívar testified that she had supposed to kill herself through the confrontation with Selena however the gun misfired.
On Oct. 23, 1995, a jury convicted Saldívar of first-degree homicide. She was sentenced to life in jail with the potential for parole after 30 years.
Whereas in jail, Saldívar, a former nurse, obtained her paralegal and affiliate diploma in legal justice. She has filed a number of civil rights complaints alleging mistreatment by the state’s jail system, in line with courtroom data, and she or he additionally helped different inmates file petitions.
In courtroom paperwork from 2016, Saldívar stated she was being held in protecting custody — that means she was segregated from different inmates — as a result of jail officers have been involved for her security as a result of “high profile” nature of her case. She filed a number of appeals of her conviction, however all have been rejected.
Generally known as “the Queen of Tejano,” Selena rose to stardom and gained a Grammy throughout a Tejano music increase within the early Nineties. Her hits included “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,” “Como la Flor,” “Amor Prohibido,” “No Me Queda Mas” and “Tu Solo Tu.”
She opened the floodgates for a brand new technology of latest artists of Latin descent who would go on to get pleasure from enormous reputation with mainstream American audiences. She typically sang in Spanish and spoke in English, reflecting a cross-cultural identification that resonated with listeners.
“Dreaming of You,” her English-language crossover album launched a number of months after her loss of life, topped the Billboard 200 and featured the hits “I Could Fall in Love” and “Dreaming of You.”
Jennifer Lopez performed the singer within the 1997 biopic “Selena.”
The Grammys awarded Selena a posthumous lifetime achievement award in 2021.
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