Illegal aliens typically deported after criminal proceedings and prison sentence
Ron Wilkins, Journal & Courier Published 2:46 p.m. ET Aug. 17, 2017 | Updated 2:50 p.m. ET Aug. 17, 2017
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(Photo: Provided/Tippecanoe County Jail)
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Forty-nine-year-old Franco Navarrete's life turned into a legal storm, swirling between state criminal laws — like possible murder charges to ID deception charges — and immigration charges for allegedly being in the U.S. illegally.
It begs the question asked Journal & Courier readers on Facebook posts: Do illegal aliens accused of crimes face justice first or do they sidestep criminal charges by being deported?
Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Patrick Harrington does not comment on specific cases until adjudication. But he responded to a question about legal procedure for illegal aliens accused of a crime.
"(Immigration and Customs Enforcement) places a hold, and then defers to the state prosecution to conclude," Harrington said of the typical case, "and if there is a conviction and a prison sentence, they will wait until the prison sentence is served.
"When the prison sentence is completed, the person is taken into federal custody and the deportation process resumes."
Police suspect Navarrete fired the shots that killed 67-year-old Catalina Lujano-Campuzano, and her adult son, Gustavo Sanchez-Campuzan, 38, as they walked in the 800 block of Eastwich Drive about 9:30 p.m. Aug. 10.
The homicide investigation led to allegations from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that he is illegally in the country and was working while using documents of another individual. ICE placed a hold on his release from jail.
On Wednesday, prosecutors charged Navarrete with unlawful possession of a firearm by an alien, identity deception and synthetic identity deception for allegedly having falsified legal documents claiming he was Joselito Sanabria.
While Navarrete is the suspect in the Aug. 10 shootings, he has yet to be charged for the slayings.
Several immigration attorneys contacted for this story did not return calls to the Journal & Courier.
http://www.jconline.com/story/news/c...nce/575969001/
Suspected killer of wife's mother, brother in U.S. illegally has murder trial start
Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier Published 10:35 a.m. ET Jan. 7, 2019 | Updated 12:50 p.m. ET Jan. 7, 2019
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(Photo: Ron Wilkins/Journal & Courier)
LAFAYETTE — Fifty-year-old Franco Navarrete's wife told him on Aug. 3, that she wanted a divorce. Seven days later, Navarrete killed his wife's mother and brother, according to local prosecutors.
Starting today, prosecutors will try to persuade a Tippecanoe Superior 1 jury of 12 people that this is what happened the night of Aug. 10, 2017, in the 800 block of Eastwich Drive.
By noon, nine jurors — four women and five men — had been seated, and the second round of prospective jurors were being interviewed. They need three more people to serve as regular jurors and two to serve as alternates.
During voir dire, jurors were told the trial might last as long as two weeks.
Navarrete, who prosecutors say is illegally in the country, faces two charges of murder and one charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by an alien.
Additionally, prosecutors charged Navarrete with possessing fake identification papers to be in the country. The papers identified Navarrete as Joselito Sanabria and allowed Navarrete to be hired at Wabash National.
To support these allegations, prosecutors charged Navarrete with false identification claiming and synthetic identity deception.
Four days before the killings, Navarrete texted his wife a photo of a semiautomatic handgun and ammunition, according to the affidavit.
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Catalina Campuzano-Lujano died Aug. 10 after allegedly being shot by her son-in-law, Franco Navarrete. (Photo: File)
Then about 9:30 p.m. Aug. 10, Navarrete stopped his white sedan in the 800 block of Eastwich Drive as 67-year-old Catalina Campuzano Lujano, and her son, 38-year-old Gustavo Sanchez Campuzzano, walked. They were just three houses away from the home they shared with extended family, according to witnesses and neighbors who spoke with the Journal & Courier on Aug. 11.
Navarrete briefly argued with the two then shot each four times, according to police and autopsy reports.
The mother and her son were gunned down in front of Cody Scott's house, and Scott, his wife, as well as other neighbors, ran to them, trying to revive them. But there was nothing that could be done to save them, Scott told the Journal & Courier on Oct. 5, one day before murder charges were filed.
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Gustavo Sanchez-Campuzan died Aug. 10 after allegedly being shot by his brother-in-law, Franco Navarrete. (Photo: File)
Navarrete called his estranged wife after the shooting and told her he was going far away, according to the affidavit. But he got as far as the Wolcot rest area on Interstate 65 in western White County.
Police picked him up there the morning of Aug. 11, 2017, after Navarrete called 911, saying he wanted to speak with officers, according to the affidavit.
There was a two-month delay between the time of Navarrete's arrest and the Oct. 6, 2017, filing of murder charges. Because U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement placed a hold on Navarrete's release from jail, there was no rush to file the murder charges until all the reports were back.
The day before the murder charges were filed, Scott worried that Navarrete might get a slap on the wrist and be sent back to Mexico.
Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Patrick Harrington does not comment on specific cases, but when asked in October 2017 about the procedure for people convicted of a crime who are in the country illegally, Harrington said that any such person convicted of a crime must serve his criminal sentence before facing deportation proceedings.
This story will be updated later today.
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Two memorials in Cody Scott's front yard honor the memories of Catalina Lujano-Campuzano, 67, and her adult son, Gustavo Sanchez-Campuzan, 38. The two were gunned down in front of these memorials Aug. 10 in the 800 block of Eastwich Drive. Nearly two months later, murder charges have not been filed against suspect Franco Navarrete, who is jailed on unrelated charges. That might change in the next week. (Photo: Ron Wilkins/Journal & Courier)
https://www.jconline.com/story/news/...te/2463059002/
