Immigration Reform Examiner
Dave Gibson

Murder charges dropped against illegal alien—translator botched Miranda rights


Antonio M. Martinez-Nunez

Last month, a judge in Ohio ruled that an interpreter failed to properly inform Antonio M. Martinez-Nunez of his rights prior to police questioning. The 31-year-old illegal alien was charged with murdering another illegal alien in a Columbus suburb over drug territory.

As such, any statements made by Martinez-Nunez would be suppressed during trial…Basically, eliminating the state’s case against the illegal alien.

Martinez-Nunez speaks only Spanish.

On Wednesday, Assistant prosecutor Mark Wodarcyk announced that there was no longer sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial.

Wodarcyk told The Columbus Dispatch: “His statements were the cornerstone of our case. We were left with insufficient evidence to go forward and have any reasonable chance of succeeding at trial."

Martinez-Nunez was charged with nine separate criminal counts, including aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse in the August 2009 death of Armondo Casillas Castanedo.

Castanedo’s body was found in a parked car in Reynoldsburg. An autopsy revealed that he had been asphyxiated.

In February 2010, Martinez-Nunez was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents when he attempted to re-enter the country illegally in Texas. While in custody, Reynoldsburg police conducted a phone interview with Martinez-Nunez through a Spanish interpreter. However, another interpreter working for the defense later discovered that the initial interpreter failed to give the illegal alien a complete reading of his Miranda warning.

Martinez-Nunez is currently in the Franklin County jail awaiting deportation.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/immigration-ref ... ts_article