Board of Parole Hearings Grants Parole to Angela Zuniga Who was Convicted of 2nd Degree Murder of 14-Year-Old Teenager Ricardo Ruiz in 2013

SALINAS, California - Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni announced on May 18 that on May 3, 2023 the California Board of Parole Hearings granted Youthful Offender parole and a future release date to Angela Zuniga. Ms. Zuniga was 21 years of age at the time of the commission of the murder of 14-year-old Ricardo Ruiz. She then fled to Mexico and was apprehended on a warrant in Mexico in 2014. In 2016, she pleaded guilty to 2nd degree murder in exchange for dismissal of the 1st degree murder charge. On May 17, 2013, at approximately 4:22 p.m., Angela Zuniga, a known Sureño gang member recently released from prison for assault and placed on Post-Community Release Supervision, and her friend approached a group of 5 individuals in front of Jaliscience Taqueria, including the 14-year-old victim, Ricardo Ruiz. Ms. Zuniga asked Ruiz if he “banged.” After short exchange Zuniga then stabbed Ruiz in the left side of his neck with a knife, stating, "King City Trece." King City Trece is a declaration of being a Sureño gang member from King City. Good Samaritans attempted to stop the bleeding and to rush the victim to the local hospital where surgery was performed, but Ruiz died 4 days after the stabbing after being transferred to Stanford Medical Center.

At the May 3, 2023 parole hearing, the victim’s grandmother, mother, siblings and extended family were in attendance and pleaded with the Board of Parole not to release Ricardo’s murderer. The victim’s grandmother told the Board her grandson was very young and had his whole life ahead of him, and that he was a brother, a son, and a grandson, but above all else, a child of God. She begged the Board to keep Zuniga behind bars. The Salinas Chief of Police submitted his written, adamant opposition to Zuniga’s parole.

The Board of Parole found that Ms. Zuniga demonstrated true remorse and credibility. The Board listed her accomplishments in prison and determined she had adequate parole plans. The Board lauded her participation in many programs offered during her second term in prison. Her first term in prison had been replete with violence. The People attended the hearing and opposed release citing minimization of her accountability and responsibility for the crime committed against Ricardo Ruiz. The People questioned the sincerity of Ms. Zuniga’s rehabilitation and her credibility and emphasized the shocking nature of the crime. The People remain concerned at Ms. Zuniga’s lack of insight and true remorse as evidenced by her evolving version of the facts and circumstances surrounding the murder.

Pursuant to her minimum eligible parole date, Ms. Zuniga will be released May 1, 2024, after having then served 9 years, 8 months of a 15 to Life sentence. This was Ms. Zuniga’s first parole hearing.

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