Convicted rapist and murderer to walk free as Gavin Newsom refuses to stop release

Gov. Gavin Newsom is getting blasted by San Luis Obispo County prosecutors after he declined to intervene in the parole of a convicted murderer, a decision that cleared the way for a man who served more than 50 years for a brutal 1974 killing to be released from prison.

District Attorney Dan Dow is sharply criticizing both the parole decision and the governor’s refusal to act, saying the outcome represents a failure of California’s criminal justice system and a devastating denial of justice for the victim.

Alberto Tamez was convicted of kidnapping, raping and strangling Genevieve Adaline Moreno in Nipomo in 1974.

“I am deeply troubled that our criminal and victim justice system has reached a result where the man who brutally murdered Genevieve Moreno over 50 years ago will now walk free,” Dow said.

Prosecutors say the attack began outside the bar where she worked and ended nearby where her body was later discovered.

Moreno was attacked during the late-night hours of June 17 into the early morning hours of June 18, 1974.

Her body was found later that morning in a grove of eucalyptus trees roughly a quarter mile from the bar.

San Luis Obispo County Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Kirschner determined Moreno died from “homicidal strangulation.”

She also suffered multiple bruises, abrasions and cuts to her face, forearms, abdomen and thighs during the attack.

Investigators identified Tamez the same morning of the murder after he was found with bloodstains on his shirt and hands, along with foxtails and other debris linked to the crime scene.

He was later convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and rape by force and sentenced in September 1974 to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Now 75 years old, Tamez was granted parole by the California Board of Parole Hearings on Dec. 30.

Dow said his office fought the release at every stage and argued there was no question about Tamez’s responsibility for the killing, calling it a “horrific, senseless act of violence.”

“My office fought this outcome at every stage, opposing his attempt to vacate his conviction and making clear to the courts that Alberto Tamez, Jr. was not a peripheral figure or a legal technicality. He was the killer. He admitted it. The evidence was overwhelming.”

Dow also said Newsom had the authority to step in and stop the parole but chose not to act, a decision prosecutors say effectively allowed the release to move forward.

“We are deeply disappointed that the Board of Parole Hearings granted parole, and that the Governor chose to take no action to reverse that decision,” Dow said.

As of May 8, Tamez remains incarcerated at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo County as release procedures continue.

“Genevieve Moreno deserved better,” Dow said. “She deserved the full protection of justice, and it is my solemn obligation as District Attorney to ensure that her story is not forgotten and that her life is honored. To see her killer released is a painful outcome that this office did not support and did not accept without a fight.”

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