Man mistakenly released from jail now accused of murder

Jim Walsh and Amanda Fruzynski
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 29, 2007 07:45 PM

The legal system is on trial and different parts are blaming each other, refusing to accept responsibility in the wake of an undocumented immigrant's mistaken release from a Maricopa County jail, 11 days before police say he may have committed murder.

Ruben Perez Rivera, 23, is suspected of stabbing his cousin to death Tuesday in Mesa. He was released from a jail March 16 because of a paperwork snafu. The county sheriff's office acted on a judge's March 15 order to release Perez Rivera and was not notified in time that he had been indicted later that day on kidnapping charges.

He was deported by federal officials to Mexico after his release from jail, but apparently re-entered the United States illegally. advertisement

Perez Rivera is still missing and wanted in connection with the murder of Theodore Cruz Perez, 23, at an apartment complex.

"It's the court's responsibility. They are ducking responsibility here," said Barnett Lotstein, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. "The county attorney's office acted properly in the presentation of this case."

But at a press conference Thursday, Presiding Superior Court Judge Barbara Rodriguez Mundell said Commissioner Mina Mendez had no choice but to order Perez Rivera released because of a Court of Appeals ruling days earlier that bars suspects from being held more than 10 days without a preliminary hearing or an indictment.

"It very apparent to me that the participants in the criminal justice system need to get together... to correct serious flaws in the information shared with our judicial officers and other participants in the system," Mundell said.

But state Sen. Chuck Gray, R-Mesa, was more blunt, blaming the blunder on "the incompetence of the system."

"It is sickening to know that our system . . . can't keep a kidnapper," Gray said on the Senate floor Thursday.

Under state law, jailed defendants must be brought to a preliminary hearing within 10 days of first appearing before a judge to determine if there is enough evidence to support the charge. Prosecutors also can present a case to grand jury and obtain an indictment if sufficient evidence is found.

When Deputy County Attorney Adam Zabor appeared in court March 15, he wasn't prepared to go forward with the hearing and he didn't have an indictment, Mundell said.

Under old rules, the court would have kept an inmate locked up to give the prosecutors' office extra time to get an indictment, even though County Attorney's office had violated the 10-day deadline.

"It was the prosecutor who asked that that preliminary hearing be vacated," Mundell said. "There are no charges to hold that person on, so as a result the defendant has to be released."

But Lotstein said the 10-day deadline was not violated because prosecutors had until midnight to obtain the indictment.

"The judge had no obligation to order that defendant's release. That's ridiculous," he said.

Lotstein said court paperwork presented to Mendez made it clear that Perez Rivera was not a U.S citizen. The document also warned that police feared that Perez Rivera might flee to Mexico or become more violent.

Lotstein said that warning should have been enough for Mendez to enforce Proposition 100, which bars illegal immigrants from being released on bond.

"From our perspective, we did what we do," Lotstein said. "We obtained the indictment in plenty of time. It was a paperwork mix-up that was not the Sheriff's fault."

He said Superior Court is refusing to enforce Proposition 100. In response, the county attorney's office will take the unprecedented step of having a prosecutor staff the Initial Appearance Court at the county jail 24 hours a day starting Monday.

But Mundell said the release report did not provide adequate evidence that Perez Rivera was inside the U.S. illegally. The prosecutor didn't provide any information about Rivera's immigration status and Zabor didn't ask that Perez Rivera be held without bond, the judge said.

"That (report) does not mean that he was here illegally," the Mundell said. "He could have been a legal resident or he could have been here on a visa."

The court is developing procedures to assure that undocumented immigrants are held without bond, but Mundell could not say when the new rules would be in place.

Lt. Paul Chagolla, spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff's office, said his office had no idea Perez Rivera had been indicted when it turned the defendant over to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 16.

Chagolla said that paperwork from indictments often doesn't get to the Sheriff's office until the afternoon of the following day.

At about 10 a.m. on March 16, Perez was released to ICE officials and transported to Mexico later that day, says Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for ICE. ICE did a background check to look for previous convictions or deportations, but because they received the paperwork showing his initial release by local authorities, Perez was deported.

Perez Rivera was initially arrested by Mesa police on March 5 and charged with suspicion of kidnapping and assault of his ex-girlfriend, 20-year-old Karol Nieves.

On Tuesday night, police suspect that Perez Rivera went to his ex-girlfriend's apartment and stabbed his cousin, who was hiding in the apartment.

Perez Rivera is described as Hispanic, 5 feet, 8 inches tall, 140 lbs., with a thin build and shaved head. He was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, a white t-shirt, blue jeans, white tennis shoes and a black hat. Anyone that has any information is advised to call Mesa police at (480) 644-2211.



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