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The Pennsylvania Board of Pardons by a vote of 2-2 did not approve an application for commutation requested by a former Buffalo, N.Y., resident who is serving a lengthy prison sentence on drug-related offenses in the Altoona area.
Felix Ocasio, now 42, was sentenced by Blair County Judge Thomas G. Peoples in 2000 to a term of 39 years, three months to 78 years, six months.
Ocasio is housed in the State Correctional Institution at Benner Township, Centre County.
He has been behind bars for 22 years.
The state Board of Pardons met on Wednesday to consider requests for clemency from 11 inmates.
Many of those inmates were elderly and included some who had been in prison for more than 50 years for murders committed when they were very young.
Ocasio was 19 years old when he was arrested as part of an organization that distributed heroin in the Altoona area.
The Buffalo-to-Altoona ring was led by Efrain Hidalgo, who is serving a 60-year minimum sentence at SCI Albion in Erie County.
Ocasio was considered Hidalgo's second-in-command.
A third Buffalo resident, Kenneth Monture, received an 18-year minimum sentence as part of the organization.
Monture is also serving time at SCI Albion.
The chairman of the Board of Pardons, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, during the hearing commented on the severity of the sentence.
Ocasio's prison record was also discussed.
The Board of Pardons is composed of five members: Fetterman; Attorney General Josh Shapiro; a corrections expert, Harris Gubernick; a psychiatrist, John P. Williams; and a victim's representative.
When the vote on commuting Ocasio's sentence was held Wednesday afternoon, only four members of the board were present and the vote ended up in a tie.
A spokesperson for the board said Friday the tie vote means that Ocasio can resubmit his request.
If his request is eventually approved by the board, it won't be effective until Gov. Tom Wolf approves it. A commutation does not mean Ocasio would be released. It only means he will be eligible for parole. His release must then be granted by the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole.