Thread: Court finally follows Prop. 100, pulls bond for suspect

Court finally follows Prop. 100, pulls bond for suspect in fatality
Laurie Roberts
Republic columnist
Mar. 23, 2007 12:00 AM

Day 18 and the crackerjacks over at Maricopa County Superior Court finally figured out they're supposed to hang onto a suspected drunken driver accused of running a red light and killing a Peoria man.

Presiding Criminal Judge James Keppel on Thursday revoked the bond given to Jocabed Dominguez-Torres, saying "new information" shows she was drunk at the time of the crash and is in this country illegally.

This well over two weeks after Immigration and Customs Enforcement notified the courts that she's here illegally and thus ineligible for release under Proposition 100.

Apparently, it wasn't enough that she admitted on the day of her arrest that she'd bought phony ID on the streets. Or that Peoria police notified the courts that she's here illegally. Or that ICE clued them in.

It took no less than the Department of Homeland Security giving the high sign, 18 days after the March 4 crash, for the courts to follow the law, though I'm guessing it didn't hurt that four key legislators were holding a press conference Thursday "to discuss possible consequences for judges who fail to uphold their oath to adhere to the Constitution."

Sen. Linda Gray said she will investigate how often the courts are ignoring Prop. 100, which denies bail to undocumented immigrants accused of committing serious crimes.

"There's still time to pass legislation holding the judges accountable," she said. "I don't quite go with impeachment, but maybe next year, if we find out more information that they not upholding the Constitution as they have sworn to do, we can also go that avenue."

Meanwhile, Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor sent Rep. Russell Pearce a letter Wednesday, assuring him that she will take additional steps to make sure judges are complying with Prop. 100 when they set bail at initial appearances. But she noted that the law requires not just proof of legal status but a high standard of proof that the person committed the crime.

"As you know, the initial appearance must occur within 24 hours of an arrest, and even the most efficient and experienced prosecutors may not be able, within that time period, either to ascertain a defendant's immigration status or to determine that the proof against a person charged with a crime meets the criteria of Proposition 100," she wrote.

Translation: Prop. 100 isn't worth the paper it's printed on. At least not in your basic, bread-and-butter DUI fatality cases because that's what this was. From Day 1, Peoria police reported to the courts that they had evidence that Dominguez-Torres ran the red light, killing 20-year-old Chris Miller, and that she was drunk - not to mention evidence of forgery stemming from phony permanent resident and Social Security cards found in her purse.

What more did the courts need?

Pearce isn't buying the excuses. "These are people that are absolutely playing 'lawyerspeak' about what is common sense for you and I and every other citizen in this state," he said.

Meanwhile, Maricopa County Superior Court issued a statement Thursday afternoon, saying commissioners are complying with Prop. 100 the best they can given the limited information they get and the fact that prosecutors are usually no-shows at these hearings.

"A snapshot review of individuals brought before Initial Appearance Court commissioners in a 15-day period this month shows that a total of 44 people were held non-bondable under Proposition 100," the statement said.

The question is: How many did they let go?
http://www.azcentral.com/news/columns/a ... s0323.html

It is damn well time Judges are held accountable!!