Thread: LA woman paroled in deadly fire may be deported

LA woman paroled in deadly fire may be deported



By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON

Thursday, March 18, 2010; 4:27 PM

LOS ANGELES -- A clothing store owner who spent 23 years behind bars for a deadly arson fire after proclaiming her innocence was paroled from state prison on Thursday but immediately taken into immigration custody and faces deportation by the end of the week, officials said.

Maria Rosa "Rosie" Sanchez, 49, was taken to an immigration office in San Bernardino following her release from the state California Institution for Women in Chino, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"We're proceeding immediately with steps to remove her" to her native Mexico, Kice said.

Kice did not specify a timeline, but said it could as early as the end of the week.

"Given the fact that she has no lawful status in the United States and she's a convicted felon, we're proceeding with her removal," Kice said.


"She was made aware of her rights and the process was explained to her," Kice said. She declined to describe Sanchez's response.

Calls to Sanchez's legal representatives seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Sanchez, who owned a small clothing store, said she was at home when another store in the same building went up in flames in Dec. 8, 1985 and killed a man.

Prosecutors argued that Sanchez had a financial motivation to burn out a rival and she was convicted of first-degree murder and arson. In 1987, she was sentenced to 25 years to life.

Sanchez always maintained her innocence. With the help of a law clinic for women at the University of Southern California Law School, she got the state parole board to recommend her release.

Last week Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did not block that recommendation and prison officials told Sanchez she would be released to her daughter, also named Rosie Sanchez, who lives in Anaheim.

Jennifer Farrell, the USC law student who represented Sanchez before the parole board, said the prosecution relied on an 18-year-old witness, Adan Ramos, who said he saw Sanchez and another woman while he was trapped in the burning building. Ramos' father, Epiphanio, was sleeping in the store and died in the blaze.

Attempts by The Associated Press to find telephone numbers to reach the Ramos family were not successful Thursday. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office had no family contact information for the 25-year-old case and Sanchez's defense attorney during the trial has died.

Sanchez's legal representatives had said they would ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a pardon that might allow the mother of four grown children to stay in the United States if she was a legal resident.

Schwarzenegger had not received such a request as of Thursday, governor's spokeswoman Rachel Arrezola said.

Sanchez had hoped to live with one of her grown children in Southern California, but word that she faced deportation crushed the family's joy at her parole, her son said.

"My sister is taking it really bad because she really expected that after all this time she'd be coming home," said Gustavo Sanchez, 31. "She fixed a room, bought furniture. She's been crying a lot."


Sanchez planned to live with a sister in Mexicali if she is deported, her son said.

"She'll be alone out there," he said. "When she was talking to my sister, she was crying so much it was hard to understand her."

"It was the best strategy before the parole board, but partly I think that after 23 years of wrongful incarceration, she was just fed up with the American dream," Farrell said. "The fact that she's getting out of prison and regaining her freedom is huge for her."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03035.html

It was the best strategy before the parole board, but partly I think that after 23 years of wrongful incarceration, she was just fed up with the American dream," Farrell said. "The fact that she's getting out of prison and regaining her freedom is huge for her."

Great....enjoy your freedom in mexico!!

Sanchez planned to live with a sister in Mexicali if she is deported, her son said.

"She'll be alone out there," he said. "When she was talking to my sister, she was crying so much it was hard to understand her."

She survived 20+ years in prison...she'll survive mexicali, her country of orgin and citizenship..

they are now saying she was not a legal resident as the family believed, so she is being deported very shortly