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UTAH STATE PRISON — A man serving a potential life sentence for the murder of a popular Hispanic community activist 15 years ago went before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole or the first time recently.
But when asked to talk about the crime, Cunny Antonio Pelaez didn't have a lot to say.
"I have a bad memory," Pelaez repeated several times when asked about details of the crime and what he was thinking that day.
On Sept. 25, 2005, Aniceto Armendariz, 42, was in a car with his wife driving home from mass on U.S. 40 near the Jordanelle Reservoir when Pelaez and his father pulled up next to them and opened fire. Armendariz was killed while his wife, Alma Armendariz, was injured and narrowly escaped death.
Aniceto Armendariz was a deacon in the Catholic Church and was involved in several community improvement efforts, especially those that would help other Hispanics and steer young people away from delinquency.
Both Pelaez and his father are illegal immigrants from Mexico.
During Pelaez's trial, Alma Armendariz told reporters she felt profoundly betrayed when she learned that two Mexican nationals had killed her husband. Even more troubling was the fact her husband taught Cunny Pelaez how to drive and Pelaez had called him "maestro," a Spanish title of respect for a teacher.
In court, prosecutors stated that Pelaez's father was driving and that Pelaez fired the fatal shots. His father, Antonio Pelaez-Vasquez, who was 56 at the time, pleaded guilty in 2007 to murder and was sentenced to up to life in prison.
Pelaez, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, also pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 6-years to life. He was not scheduled to be have his first parole hearing until 2025.
But during his Pelaez-Vasquez's original parole hearing in 2020, he claimed that the murder was his idea and that his son would not have done it if he hadn't recruited him. Because of this new information, the Board of Pardons decided to move up Pelaez's parole hearing.
In a recording of the June 29 hearing, Pelaez was asked several times by a board member to recount the crime to help the full board understand what was going through his head back then. That information will help the board determine if he will be a risk to society should he be released.
"I have a bad memory, I tell you," Pelaez repeated.
Pelaez told the board they should just ask his father what happened. He mostly wanted to use his hearing to focus on his accomplishments while incarcerated.
"I've been doing good in here," Pelaez said.
But when asked in conclusion if there was anything he'd like to say to Armendariz's family, Pelaez declined.
"I have to say something to them? For what?"
"Because you killed their father," the board member retorted.
The full five member board will now vote on whether to grant parole to Pelaez. If he is released, he will be handed directly over to Immigration and Naturalization Services who will then deport Pelaez to Mexico.
