http://www.t-g.com/story/1168753.html

Probation no, deportation yes
Monday, September 18, 2006
By Clint Confehr

A Mexican who pleaded guilty of assault was sentenced in Bedford County Circuit Court on Friday in such a way as to avoid his assignment to probation officers partly because he'll be deported.
Such practical and realistic application of judicial discretion came Friday from Bedford County Circuit Court Judge Lee Russell who sentenced Pedro Enrique Estrada, 19, of Smyrna to serve seven months in jail.

State sentencing guidelines provide up to six years in a state penitentiary for each of the three assault charges Estrada faced.

"I don't see much purpose in keeping him in state custody," Judge Russell said, adding unsupervised probation for Estrada, knowing that because he's been identified as an illegal alien, he will be deported to Mexico.

Previously, county jail inmates who were to be deported were taken by federal officials to a facility in Shreveport, La., before they were transported out of the country.

Assistant Public Defender Jack Dearing established with Estrada's testimony during his sentencing hearing that he had no intentions of breaking the law again and that he has relatives in Bedford County and Guadalajara, Mexico.

Assistant District Attorney Mike Randles countered Dearing's suggestion for a light sentence by outlining the chain of events leading to Estrada's arrest.

"He fired [a gun] several times at a vehicle with several occupants," Randles said. "And he can't claim he was firing in the air."

The vehicle was hit.

"There was a dispute over a dog, but he was not involved in the dispute," the prosecutor said. "This could have been a much more serious situation."

Estrada's criminal record includes use of marijuana since age 13, cocaine twice, ecstasy once and prescription pain pills twice, Randles said. Estrada stopped using drugs when incarcerated. His record includes charges of failure to appear in court, the prosecutor said in open court.

"He's also in this country illegally," Randles said, enumerating offenses which could be used to enhance punishment under sentencing guidelines. "And while he enjoys the same legal rights as others, being here is a crime."

If he's deported, Estrada has no plans to return, he said.

Dearing said he's been advised that federal officials who find someone who's been deported and has returned to the United States are placed in a federal penitentiary for five years.

Federal immigration officials have a "hold" on Estrada already, Dearing said.

Noting that Estrada will be deported, Russell ruled that the three assault charges should result in sentences to be served at the same time, and that confinement here should last seven months.

Estrada has been held since his arrest on March 12.