Parole has been denied for an Oakdale man convicted of beating a woman with a fireplace poker 14 years ago and leaving her to die along a canal bank in San Joaquin County.
A Stanislaus County Superior Court jury convicted Delbert Duane Tinsley of second-degree murder in April 2000. He later was sentenced to serve 17 years to life in prison.
At a hearing Oct. 30, the state parole board agreed to keep Tinsley in custody at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga for five more years. Then he is entitled to another parole hearing.
Tinsley was at a friend's home on Chrysler Drive in north Modesto on June 1, 1998, when Cindy Lou Hubbard walked past. Prosecutors said Tinsley was in the garage drinking beer and called Hubbard to come over.
Once Hubbard was inside, Tinsley closed the door and began beating her with the poker. She was cut several times, and her nose, jaw and arm were broken. Prosecutors said she was stabbed multiple times with a small knife.
Tinsley and a friend wrapped the 39-year-old nurse in plastic and a blanket, loaded her into the trunk of a car and dumped her body on a canal bank southeast of Escalon.
Several hours later, a man collecting aluminum cans spotted the victim struggling to stand up on the bank before she slipped into the water. The witness could not swim, so he rode his bicycle to a house for help.
Hubbard was dead by the time rescuers arrived. A pathologist testified that, given time, she might have died from the beating.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Taro prosecuted Tinsley in the trial and appeared at last month's parole hearing. He argued for continued confinement based on the extreme violence and callous disregard Tinsley demonstrated toward the victim.
"The prisoner still owes more time for this life offense and should not be released," Taro argued at the hearing.
RSS
E-Mail
Print
Order reprints
