Thread: Defense claims politics in Ga. immigration case

Defense claims politics in Ga. immigration case

KATE BRUMBACK, Associated Press
Updated 9:05 a.m., Thursday, October 18, 2012

ATLANTA (AP) — A suburban Atlanta prosecutor has asked a judge to dismiss a case against a young woman from Mexico whose 2010 arrest after a traffic offense nearly led to her deportation, sparking a wider immigration debate. But the judge in the case has previously denied a similar request, and defense lawyers suspect politics may be at play.

District Attorney Pat Head filed a strongly worded motion Tuesday asking Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley to grant a recent defense request to dismiss the case. In the filing, Head appears to make a personal jab at Staley, comparing the charges against Jessica Colotl, to a case involving the judge's sister.

"She is too intelligent a woman to actually harbor any kind of anti-immigrant sentiment," defense attorney Jerome Lee said of the elected judge. "So I can only imagine that there is some political aspiration here that's motivating this."

Staley did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday.

Colotl, whose parents brought her to the U.S. illegally from Mexico when she was 11, was thrust into the national spotlight after she was stopped for a minor traffic violation in March 2010 and then arrested for driving without a license.

In February 2011, Colotl was indicted on a charge of false swearing after the Cobb County Sheriff's Office said she gave deputies false contact information during booking for her arrest. She entered into an agreement with the Cobb County district attorney's office in August 2011 to enter a pretrial diversion program, a solution Staley signed off on.

Following a media report that quoted Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren as calling the deal a "slap on the wrist" and something he hadn't agreed to, Staley called a new hearing on Colotl's eligibility for the program. In an October 2011, she reopened the case and instructed the district attorney to talk with the sheriff and consider his opinion.

Since then, Colotl's case has appeared on the court's docket every two weeks, meaning she and a lawyer have had to appear in court repeatedly for a case that is never called, Lee said.

Head complied with the judge's order and talked to Warren, but determined Colotl was indeed eligible for the program, Head writes in a motion filed Tuesday requesting that Staley grant Colotl's lawyer's request last week to dismiss the case.

Warren didn't return messages seeking comment Wednesday.

Colotl has since fulfilled all of her obligations under the pretrial diversion program. She performed 150 hours of community service, and Head has filed documents advising the court he has no intention of prosecuting the case further.

Staley last month issued an order denying Head's filing. The judge said she refused to follow his recommendation not to pursue the case because the sheriff's office has "raised legitimate concerns that have not been adequately addressed." Staley also cited a misdemeanor conviction against Colotl, saying that has "consistently disqualified entry" into the county's pretrial diversion program.

Head's motion notes that Georgia law governing pretrial diversion programs "shall be at the discretion of the prosecuting attorney." He writes that his office has seen no correspondence between the sheriff and the judge regarding Warren's concerns.

Head also points out that the guidelines for the pretrial diversion program clearly allow the district attorney to make exceptions.

Colotl's acceptance into the program is not unusual for a person with no history of violence or aggression and a single misdemeanor conviction of driving without a license, and nothing about the pending charge of false swearing disqualifies her either, he wrote.

"Individuals charged with False Statement and even Forgery in the First Degree have been successfully admitted into the Pretrial Diversion Program," Head wrote. He cited a 2007 case that the Marietta Daily Journal says involves Staley's sister.

After Colotl's traffic stop in 2010, she was handed over by the Cobb County Sheriff's Office to federal immigration authorities and spent more than a month in a detention center in Alabama. Immigration authorities eventually released her, saying they would give her a year to finish her studies at Kennesaw State University.

She has since graduated and been granted extensions of that deferred action on her case and is in the process of applying for an Obama administration program that allows certain illegal immigrant young people to avoid deportation for two years and apply for a work permit.

Colotl's immigration attorney Charles Kuck said the pending case in Cobb County shouldn't affect her immigration case.

Defense claims politics in Ga. immigration case - SFGate

by Pete Borden
columnist
October 23, 2012 12:00 AM
MDJonline.com
8 comments

It strikes me as a gross miscarriage of justice that Jessica Colotl is still in this country. She was arrested in March 2010 and charged with a felony, as well as misdemeanor illegal driving charges. It was discovered, because of her lies, that she was an illegal immigrant. It was further discovered that she was attending Kennesaw State University, apparently representing herself as a legal citizen of the state of Georgia, since she was paying in-state tuition, a privilege not given to illegal immigrants.

She was ordered deported and was held for over 35 days at an immigration detention center in Alabama. She later was granted a one year reprieve to finish college. Not many people liked that idea. Primarily, the open borders/blanket amnesty advocates and fellow illegal immigrants thought it a good idea.

She graduated in May 2011. According to one of her supporters, at the time of her 2010 arrest, her intention was to get her degree, then return to Mexico. What happened? In keeping with President Obama’s back-door amnesty actions, she was granted yet a second one-year reprieve, to expire in May of this year. How many people are cognizant of the fact that she applied for and was granted another one year stay, until May of next year?

What is really frustrating about all this is the blatant hypocrisy. Colotl says she loves America and America’s legal system and wants to become a lawyer. Questions are legion in this case.

* If she loves the legal system, why did she continue to break the law by remaining here once she knew she was here illegally?

* What of Colotl’s expired Mexican Passport and the Mexican Drivers License which she produced the day after her traffic stop? Would not possession of those two documents indicate that she has been back to Mexico since she was originally “brought here by her parents at age 7, 10 or 11?” All three different ages have been used in reporting her story at one time or another. If she did, in fact, go to Mexico to get those documents and return to the U.S., she no longer is the victim of her parent’s choice, but a willful lawbreaker.

* Why does she continue to receive reprieves? When will the deportation order be executed?

* Where did she get the money to pay her in-state tuition? If she had a job, she was willfully breaking the law, as was her employer. Is this the action of someone who loves our legal system?

* Why did the president of KSU get personally involved in her case, pleading her cause and having KSU personnel drive her home from the ICE office?

* Will she have to pay the difference in the out-state tuition and the in-state tuition? She owes it to the taxpayers to do so.

* Why is Pat Head, the Cobb County District Attorney whose job it is to prosecute lawbreakers, looking for legal ways to let her off the hook? He is fighting with Superior Judge Mary Staley, who wants her prosecuted. If the judge is unfamiliar with the method Head used to allow her to easily satisfy the letter of the law, is it not a pretty safe bet that it required extra effort for Head to find it? Why did he do it?

* Why is the sheriff’s office being shut out of this matter? Sheriff Neil Warren, along with his department, has made significant strides in reducing the number of illegal aliens in Cobb County and he is frustrated, along with many others, because this woman is being allowed to make a mockery of our legal system.

* Why is D.A. King, president and founder of the Dustin Inman Society, being ignored? King is a widely recognized authority on immigration law, as well as an avid advocate of enforcement of those laws.

Jessica Colotl has become the national poster child for a major breakdown in immigration law enforcement. She is on the fast track to becoming an immigration lawyer and helping more illegals break the law.

Deporting Colotl would send a strong signal to other illegal immigrants. I would ask, “When are we going to demand that the government enforce the law instead of giving it, and the citizens, lip service?”

Pete Borden is a retired masonry contractor in east Cobb.

One Old Vet

The Marietta Daily Journal - Why are we still talking about Jessica Colotl