Deportation or nursing home? One awaits Modesto killer found suitable for parole.

Jan. 15--A Mexican citizen convicted in a 1986 shooting death at a Modesto bar has been found suitable for parole and may be deported upon his release from prison, the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office reported Tuesday.

But Gerardo Aparisi Zamora, 60, is in poor health and if not sent to Mexico would be placed in a skilled nursing facility, where his care would be paid for by the California Division of Adult Parole Operations.

Zamora fought with Ignacio Leon while drinking at the long-since-closed Las Palmas Bar on Seventh Street. Witnesses in his 1994 trial testified that the two men fought at least three times in the bar that night, and that at one point, one of the men broke a pool cue over the other.

Zamora went home, got an M-1 carbine rifle, came back to the bar and fired into the bar. Leon was struck seven times, and two other men were wounded.

Zamora fled to Mexico, where in 1988 he was shot seven times and suffered a traumatic brain injury while on the run, the DA's Office said in a news release. In March 1994, he turned himself over to U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Deputy District Attorney Richard Mury argued at trial that Zamora didn't turn himself in until eight years after the crime. He may have been coerced into returning to the United States and surrendering, Mury said. "He was shot while in Mexico, and he thought it may have had something to do with this case."

In a statement to police, Zamora admitted shooting Leon, but in self-defense. Zamora said he saw Leon with a gun, and homicide detectives did find a handgun in the victim's pocket.

Zamora was convicted of one count of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with a firearm, along with personally using a firearm to commit all three offenses and inflicting great bodily injury. In September 1994, he was sentenced to 35 years to life in state prison.

In prison, Zamora's health has failed, the DA's Office reported. He suffers from hallucinations and delusions and has been diagnosed with a neurocognitive disorder that causes him to spend most of his time in bed, requiring special nursing care.

Zamora was denied parole in 2015 and 2018, but is now eligible for early release because of his age, the length of time served in prison and his health.

At the State Board of Parole Hearings held at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, Deputy District Attorney Merrill Hoult argued against Zamora's release based on the viciousness of the crime, his history of mental instability and the high risk of danger he posed to the community.

"Even though Zamora refused to appear before the parole board or participate in a comprehensive risk assessment with a prison psychologist," the DA's news release said, "the commissioners found that there was no evidence Zamora has the physical capacity to be a danger to others or pose any risk to society."

___

(c)2019 The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.)

Visit The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.) at www.modbee.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.