Posted on 05/23/2003 12:00:07 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Diane Zamora, the former Naval Academy honor student convicted of the 1995 murder of a romantic rival, will be allowed to marry another Texas prison inmate in a double proxy ceremony, Bexar County Clerk Gerry Rickhoff says.
The honeymoon may have to wait: Zamora is serving a life sentence, and will not become eligible for parole until 2036.
Rickhoff already has received requests from two more prison couples for licenses, and may soon be inundated, as the Texas Department of Criminal Justice prepares to halt inmate-to-inmate mail.
"We are one of the few remaining prison systems that still allow it," TDCJ spokesman Larry Fitzgerald said of inmate-to-inmate mail.
At its last meeting, Fitzgerald said the Texas Board of Criminal Justice voted to stop the practice of allowing inmates to correspond with one another.
The move had been discussed for some time, Fitzgerald said. "We were just getting too much traffic, and gang mail," he said of the inter-prison mail service.
Fitzgerald said while TDCJ plans to stop inmates from corresponding with one another by mail, spouses would of course still be allowed to correspond, even if they both are imprisoned.
Prison mail is how Zamora, 25, met her fiance, inmate Steven Mora, 27. The two have never met in person, family members said.
The couple first tried to get a marriage license in January, by having Mora's mother bring in their applications, Rickhoff said.
Although requests for licenses when one applicant is incarcerated are common, Rickhoff said he had never gotten one from two absent applicants. He turned down their request and asked for an opinion from Attorney General Gregg Abbott in the matter.
Abbott wrote in February that the license could be issued to Zamora and Mora, but Rickhoff said he was not satisfied until a meeting this week with attorneys from the civil division of the Bexar County District Attorney's Office.
"I had reservations," Rickhoff said. At the meeting this week, he said, "My reservations were met with answers."
Rickhoff said he mailed applications Thursday to Zamora and Mora, along with a letter telling them their license would be issued if their applications met all the normal criteria.
In a letter dated April 29, Zamora alternately threatened and cajoled, first writing, "the only cause for a denial would be prejudice," then assuring Rickhoff, "I do not take marriage lightly."
Although Mora's family members have said he and Zamora have never met in person, Zamora wrote Rickhoff, "I ... certainly am not marrying someone I haven't already met, despite all you've heard."
Zamora then points out whether the two have met "is really nobody's business."
Zamora was depicted in her 1998 trial as a jealous, controlling woman who wanted to get rid of 16-year-old Adrianne Jones, who Zamora believed might steal her fiance, former Air Force Academy cadet David Graham.
Zamora and Graham devised a plot to kidnap and kill Jones, witnesses at their trials said. Her death in 1995 went unsolved for nine months before Zamora and Graham were charged with capital murder. Both are serving life sentences, and must serve 40 years before being eligible for parole. Zamora is at the maximum-security Mountain View Unit near Gatesville.
Steven Mora is serving four years for threatening someone involved in a previous case against him. He has served previous prison terms for theft, auto theft and arson. He is at the maximum-security Ramsey Unit in Brazoria County and will become eligible for release in March.
Oxymoron alert.
Well, at least she has 30 years to think about selecting bathroom tile....
When she marries, will she be Diane Zamora-Mora?
This is nuts. I think these criminals have too much free time. Think about the young girl she helped murder and the family left without a daughter. I don't think she should be allowed to enter into this farce.
They plan to honeymoon on Bora Bora.
I do agree with you.
One more time for those that couldn't get in anyway:
Annapolis = Midshipmen
West Point/Air Farce = Cadet
At least they got the 'Ex-' part correct. We don't want even to claim her for goodness sake, but darnit get our titles right.
Many men who are convicted of the same crime also don't receive the death penalty, and it's certainly not because they're young, female and good looking.
I agree about the claim. I wonder why the headline didn't read "CONVICTED MURDERESS to Wed"?
A girl's gotta set limits and stick to her morals. Murder? No problem, but jumping into marriage is strictly out of the question.
And he's got thirty years to train himself to put the seat back down...
They plan to honeymoon on Bora Bora.
...and name their first child...Tora Tora Zamora-Mora?
Where do they grow people like this???
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