Yolanda Saldívar, who is serving a life sentence for the 1995 murder of Tejano icon Selena Quintanilla-Perez, has insisted that the shooting was accidental and that she should be released.
Saldivar, now 62, hopes to be eligible for parole and released in March 2025.
“Enough is enough,” a relative of Saldivar’s told the Post. She said, “She feels like she’s a political prisoner at this point. She’s ready to get out of prison because she feels like she’s served her full sentence.” Because I believe in it.”
Saldívar himself makes similar claims in the documentary “Selena and Yolanda: The Secret Between Them,” which premiered last week on Oxygen and is now streaming on Peacock.
“I was convicted by public opinion even before the trial began,” she said in a prison interview, insisting she had not intended to kill the 23-year-old star.
Saldivar, the founder of Selena’s fan club, has been in prison since March 31, 1995, when he shot and killed Selena during a confrontation at a hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas. Selena believed Saldívar had embezzled over $60,000 and that he intended to fire her.
During the encounter between the two, Saldívar shot the “Queen of Tejano” in the back. The singer died from blood loss in the hospital later that day.
At trial, Saldivar’s lawyers argued that the shooting was accidental and that Saldívar intended to commit suicide. But the jury disagreed and sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
Saldívar now claims he did not embezzle the money. In her documentary, Selena admitted that she wrote and signed checks made to herself to buy plane tickets to visit a plastic surgeon in Mexico with whom she was allegedly having an affair. She claimed that she did so at the request of.
A spokesperson for Selena’s family did not respond to The Post’s request for comment, but Selena’s father has previously denied many of Saldívar’s claims and called her a liar.
The newspaper obtained detailed records of Saldívar’s incarceration at Mountain View Correctional Facility, a maximum-security women’s prison in Gatesville, Texas.
Saldívar has filed a complaint with the prison and has also filed a federal lawsuit alleging that her living conditions were “unsafe and dangerous” after she was injured in a fall from the top bunk in 2017.
The newspaper reported that Saldívar plans to cite safety concerns as one of the reasons to justify his release when he is eligible for parole next year.
A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice told the Post that there are no blemishes on Saldívar’s record that would prevent the board from holding a parole hearing. She may formally request a hearing up to 90 days prior to her eligibility date.
“She knows it’s an uphill battle,” her relative admits. She thinks she deserves it. ”
