Man Sentenced To 45 Months Prison For Illegal Reentry After Deportation From US

Posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2008

PHOENIX, Ariz. – LAWFUEL.com - Rodrigo Martinez-Cortes, 29, of Orizava, Veracruz, Mexico, was sentenced here yesterday to a total of 45 months’ imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake. Martinez-Cortes had pleaded guilty to illegal reentry after deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 and had admitted a violation of supervised release from a prior conviction for illegal reentry.

Martinez-Cortes was convicted of six prior immigration offenses in just over four years. Each time, however, he promptly returned to the United States illegally after being released from custody. This time, Judge Wake sentenced Martinez-Cortes to 24 months in prison for illegally reentering the United States after deportation and 21 months in prison to be served consecutively for violating his supervised release term, which had been imposed in a prior illegal reentry prosecution in the District of Arizona.

The 45-month sentence was based on Martinez-Cortes’s repeated violations of immigration law. The Court explained that such a high sentence was necessary in order to deter Martinez-Cortes from reentering illegally, as shorter sentences had proved insufficient in the past. The public record at the sentencing revealed that, in addition to the six prior immigration offenses, Martinez-Cortes had been removed from the United States at least three additional times during the same period. The record revealed no significant criminal conduct other than immigration offenses.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the U.S. Border Patrol. The prosecution was handled by James R. Knapp, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix, Ariz.

CASE NUMBER: CR-07-1128-PHX-NVW and CR-05-1902-TUC-NVW

RELEASE NUMBER: 2008-153(Martinez-Cortes)

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