Thread: Illegal Alien Guilty of Killing Nun in VA.

Illegal immigrant found guilty of killing nun in Va. DWI crash

By David Sherfinski
The Washington Times
Monday, October 31, 2011

A Prince William County judge on Monday found an illegal immigrant who fatally struck a Benedictine nun with his car while driving drunk guilty of felony murder.

Carlos A. Martinelly Montano, 24, faces between 5 and 40 years in prison for the murder charge when he is sentenced Feb. 3.

Martinelly Montano pleaded guilty earlier Monday to involuntary manslaughter, two counts of maiming as a result of driving while intoxicated, driving on a revoked license and a third drunken driving charge within five years.

He faces a maximum of 30 years in prison on those charges.

After a non-jury trial Monday that included testimony from two other nuns who were in the car and were injured in the accident, Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Lon E. Farris announced his ruling.

The charges stem from an Aug. 1, 2010, incident in which Martinelly Montano was driving a car that struck a car carrying Sister Denise Mosier, 66, at about 8 a.m. as she was traveling to a retreat at the Benedictine Monastery in Bristow, Va.

Martinelly Montano, who entered the country illegally with his family from Bolivia in 1996, had been released by the county into Homeland Security custody and was awaiting a deportation hearing when the incident occurred.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano called for an investigation after the fatal accident into why Martinelly Montano had not been deported. A subsequent report from the department released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch said that Martinelly Montano had been released by immigration authorities after showing that he was not a flight risk.

Prince William County officials released him from custody in October 2008 after his second drunken-driving conviction, after which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began removal proceedings and released him back into the community under its supervision with a GPS tracker.

The Justice Department, though, delayed his deportation hearing multiple times, even as he had several minor run-ins with the law in 2009 and 2010 that were not reported to ICE.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... -nun-fata/

Related Threads
Trial in hot-button drunk driving case to start
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-254050-murder.html+nun
Murder Trial Begins in Car Crash That Killed Nun
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-254078-nun.html

The article at the above link has been updated to the following.
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Illegal immigrant pleads guilty in killing of nun in Va.

Was driving drunk during fatal crash

By David Sherfinski

The Washington Times

Monday, October 31, 2011

An illegal immigrant who fatally struck a Benedictine nun while driving drunk was found guilty in Prince William County on Monday of felony murder — a case that sparked outrage in a county at the forefront of debates on local enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Carlos A. Martinelly Montano, 24, faces up to 70 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 3 on the murder charge and a host of lesser related charges to which he pleaded guilty earlier in the day.

The charges stemmed from an Aug. 1, 2010, crash in which Martinelly Montano struck a car carrying Sister Denise Mosier, 66, as she was traveling to a retreat at the Benedictine Monastery in Bristow, Va.

Martinelly Montano, who entered the country illegally with his family from Bolivia in 1996, had twice been convicted on drunken-driving charges before the accident. After the second conviction in 2008, he was released by the county into the custody of the Department of Homeland Security and was awaiting a deportation hearing when the crash occurred.

Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart, who at the time of the incident accused President Obama and Congress of having “blood on their hands,â€

Illegal immigrant convicted of felony murder in car crash that killed Benedictine nun in Va.


By Associated Press, Published: October 30

MANASSAS, Va. — A judge on Monday found a Bolivian immigrant guilty of murder for causing a crash while driving drunk that killed a Benedictine nun and severely injured two others last year.

The case against Carlos Martinelly Montano, 24, drew national attention partly because of the sympathetic victims — three elderly nuns — but mostly because of Martinelly’s immigration status. Federal authorities say Martinelly was an illegal immigrant who had been convicted of drunken driving twice previously but was never deported.

Political leaders in Prince William County, a suburban county just outside the nation’s capital where illegal immigration has been a flashpoint, seized on Martinelly’s case as proof that federal authorities weren’t sufficiently aggressive in deporting of criminal illegal aliens.

Monday’s conviction also appeared to set a legal precedent in Virginia. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys say it appears to be the first reported case in the state where the murder laws were used in this fashion to prosecute a drunken-driving fatality.

Martinelly pleaded guilty at the outset of Monday’s trial to lesser charges, including involuntary manslaughter. But his lawyers strongly disputed the murder charge, saying Martinelly’s actions — while negligent — lacked the element of malice that is required for a murder conviction.

“He did not set out to injure anyone,â€

Illegal Alien At Center Of JW Probe Guilty Of Murder

Last Updated: Wed, 11/02/2011 - 3:10pm

An illegal immigrant at the center of a Judicial Watch investigation has been convicted of murder in the drunk-driving accident that killed a Benedictine nun and critically injured two others in the Washington Metropolitan area last year.

Despite an extensive criminal history, the Bolivian man (Carlos Martinelly-Montano) had been released by federal immigration authorities on his own recognizance after being arrested. On the August 2010 night he killed the nun in Prince William County, Martinelly-Montano had a revoked license and was awaiting a deportation ruling. His car crossed a median and slammed head on into a vehicle carrying the three nuns.

Judicial Watched sued the Department of Homeland Security last December for records related to the agency’s investigation of the case. A federal court ordered the files released and JW made them public in March. The DHS report essentially details policies and actions of the Obama Administration and local governments that allowed Montano to remain on the streets despite being subject to deportation.

For instance the records show that as far back as 2007 Montano was convicted for driving under the influence (DIU) in Prince William County and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. However, a judge suspended the sentence and Montano walked because local police didn’t bother to determine his immigration status.

“Almost one year later, on October 4, 2008, Montano was booked into jail in Prince William County and charged with another misdemeanor DUI,â€

How many more LEGAL AMERICANS have to die before this country takes action against these illegals? If he is going to prison then his native country needs to be charged for the cost of him being in the institution as well as the court fees. Take it from the funds that just about every country has here in our banks. Once the prison term is complete make sure the illegal is deported to this native land and handed over to their government. I am sure they will want him to work off the debt incurred.

I live in MD and get a lot of Washington DC/Virgina news stations. On two different local channels I saw the news report on this, and NEITHER report even mentioned this guy was an illegal alien. Go figure.