A Colorado parole board hearing for Vinchenzo Moscoso, the 30-year-old accused of stabbing two people to death in northwest Denver in September, shows state officials went against a parole officer’s recommendations to revoke Moscoso’s parole and allowed him to be released from jail despite concerns that he was a safety risk to the community.
The state’s parole division recommended revoking Moscoso’s parole because his history of drunken driving made him a public safety risk, according to a recording of the October 2022 hearing obtained through the Colorado Open Records Act.
Instead, the parole board ordered Moscoso’s parole be continued, and he was released from the Jefferson County Jail on March 29.
Moscoso is accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of Fidel Sanchez-Banuelos, 51, and Judith Corcoran, 83, on Sept. 14.
Moscoso boarded a Regional Transportation District bus just after 5 a.m. in the 3200 block of North Federal Boulevard and began stabbing Sanchez-Banuelos in the neck “without provocation or warning” before calmly exiting through the back doors, according to an arrest affidavit.
Moscoso was arrested nearly five hours later when a second stabbing was reported 2 miles north in the 5000 block of Federal Boulevard, where a witness saw Corcoran on the ground bleeding with Moscoso standing nearby.
Moscoso had blood on his hands and a bloody knife in his pocket when he was arrested, according to the affidavit.
The audio recording of Moscoso’s hearing before the Colorado State Parole Board on Oct. 12, 2022, sheds light on his history and the concerns law enforcement officials shared about continuing his parole.
At the time of the hearing, Moscoso was serving a one-year sentence in the Jefferson County Jail for driving under the influence of alcohol and was eligible to be released on parole in March.
The state hearing was scheduled because Moscoso violated parole in a different case: In February 2022, he was on parole after serving a prison sentence for aggravated robbery when he was arrested for criminal mischief, to which he pleaded guilty in September 2022, according to court records.
He was sentenced to 60 days in jail with credit for time served and subsequently arrested in June 2022 for driving under the influence of alcohol in Wheat Ridge. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in the Jefferson County Jail in August 2022, according to court records.
In the 30-minute hearing, Parole Board member Joe Morales heard from a Department of Corrections case manager, Moscoso and Moscoso’s board-appointed attorney before determining that Moscoso’s parole should be continued when he was eligible for release from the Jefferson County jail in March.
According to a report read during the hearing, Moscoso’s parole officer recommended his parole be revoked because even if Moscoso was seeking treatment for alcohol abuse, he continued to drive drunk and posed a public safety risk.
“Moscoso is trying to seek treatment for his alcohol, however, he’s still violating the law by driving under the influence,” a parole division official said at the meeting. “So even with trying to get assistance, he’s still a public safety risk due to the fact that he continues to drive drunk. Like you said, thank goodness nobody was hurt this time, but we can’t take that chance. Even though he is seeking treatment, he may still be out there driving under the influence.”
Moscoso was found not competent to represent himself during a previous hearing and required board-appointed counsel, Morales said during the October 2022 hearing.
During the hearing, Moscoso and his attorney described Moscoso’s problems with short-term memory loss and headaches due to a traumatic brain injury he sustained after crashing his motorcycle while driving drunk. He was not wearing a helmet and was flung 30 feet during the crash, Moscoso said during the hearing.
His traumatic brain injury was also impacted by a drug addiction, Moscoso’s attorney told the board.
Moscoso told the parole board his opiate addiction was under control and he wanted to go to rehab and get a job so he could support his son.
“I just want you to know that I’m going to keep taking the steps to do well, I’m not just going to get out there and act up,” Moscoso said during the hearing.
Moscoso also disputed the report from his parole officer that he had missed check-ins and drug tests while on parole.
The parole board’s decision was based on public safety and weighing the safety of the individual, the community and the public, Morales said.
“I put a lot of weight on that, especially when there’s a new law violation,” Morales said. “But I do think individuals need treatment.”
Morales ordered that Moscoso’s parole be continued with the requirement he complete drug and alcohol treatment, not drive without the permission of his parole officer and add an alcohol monitoring system to his car.
“See this, Mr. Moscoso, as an opportunity for your future,” Morales said during the hearing. “You’re a young guy… and don’t have a super egregious history, mostly misdemeanors. It’s a matter of being mature and making good decisions and trying to look at your future and not putting yourself and others at risk and trying to take full advantage of what parole is about.”
The Colorado Parole Board declined to take interviews or make statements about Moscoso’s hearing, Director Michael Tessean said in an email.
Moscoso is set to appear in Denver District Court on Jan. 22. He is in custody at the Downtown Detention Center on a $5 million cash bail.
