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SALT LAKE CITY — Armando Ray Molina says he has remorse for gunning down a Salt Lake restaurant owner and critically injuring the man's wife in 1995 but admits he's still active in his gang and will do what it takes while in prison to protect himself.
"It's unfortunate, but I'm gonna do that," Molina, now 47, told the Board of Pardons and Parole on Tuesday.
In June 1995, Molina, who also went by the street moniker "Dopey" and had just turned 18, walked into the Valparaizo Cafe, 175 S. 900 West, with Carlos Gomez, 17, and shot owner Joel Flores, 54, and critically injured his wife, Belen Flores, who survived her injuries. Molina and his friend took $1 and a pack of cigarettes and walked back to their house across the street.
In 1997, Molina pleaded guilty to murder and no contest to aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, and Molina was sentenced to two consecutive terms of up to life in prison.
Five years ago, Molina attended his first parole hearing. During the hearing, when asked about the crime, he said, "We were bored. We were sitting around. There was nothing else better to do," which was his reason for going to the restaurant.
When asked where he got the gun used in the crime, Molina replied, "I just came across it somehow." When questioned about whether he is willing to leave the gang lifestyle, Molina said, "As long as I'm going to continue to be inside these walls, I'm going to continue to be who I am and make sure that at the end of the day, I come out safe. And it's unfortunate. ... But until that time comes, it's unfortunate that I gotta be who I've gotta be, and I gotta protect myself."
During Tuesday's re-hearing, Molina had many of the same answers to the board's questions.
Since his last parole hearing, he has been convicted of possessing a weapon at the Central Utah Correctional Facility. In that case, he flushed a shank down a toilet after it was used to stab another inmate, according to charging documents.
"I just happened to have that in my possession, and they said they seen me flush it down the toilet," when asked on Tuesday how he came to get the shank.
When asked what he was expected to do with the weapon after it was given to him, Molina replied nonchalantly, "Nothing really, just grab it."
The incident resulted in Molina being moved back to maximum security at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City. When asked how he was doing in prison, Molina replied, "Well, considering that I'm stuck in max, there's not much that I'm able to do."
Ramiro Flores, Joel Flores' son, says answers like that show Molina hasn't changed his behavior over the past five years, let alone since the night of the crime.
Ricardo Flores, Joel Flores' other son, agreed that Molina did not show remorse as he recounted to the board what the Floreses went through that night and how his father died eight days after being shot.
"His death wasn't peaceful; it was aggravating, motivated by … arrogance and hate," he said. "I can say without any hesitation that Armando is exactly where he belongs, and he needs to remain where he belongs."
Francis Mejia, a friend of the Floreses, concurred, and told the board the agony and pain she's witnessed in the family is "immeasurable."
"It is a world upside down to think (Molina) may walk free, when they walk in chains daily," she said. "He is where he needs to be."
When asked if he wanted to respond to the family's comments, Molina said he has taken accountability for what he did.
I can say without any hesitation that Armando is exactly where he belongs, and he needs to remain where he belongs.
–Ricardo Flores
"I do have remorse for what I did," he said. "I've made changes. Do I want to be let free? Yeah, I do. But at the end of the day, who can put a price on taking a life?" he replied matter-of-factly. "I can't give them something that they've lost. ... If the board sees fit that I never get out, then so be it."
Molina also told the board he would remain active in the gang lifestyle and blamed the housing situation in maximum security at the prison. He believes he has made changes since being sent to prison nearly 30 years ago. But if corrections officials continue to house him in the maximum security area, "Then I had no other option to fill certain obligations to my so-called gang that I'm a part of, and I pretty much got forced back into that lifestyle."
The full five-member board will now vote on whether to grant parole, set a new date for a parole hearing, or order Molina to serve his entire life sentence.
