Thread: N.J. top court ruling keeps accused molester in U.S. for now

Morris wins more time in battle over deportations
N.J. top court ruling keeps accused molester in U.S. -- for now
By Peggy Wright • Daily Record • February 12, 2009

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The state Supreme Court on Wednesday put a stay on a lower court ruling that would have released an accused child molester to federal immigration officials and possibly led to his deportation before the case comes to trial.




The Supreme Court's order -- released Wednesday but signed Tuesday by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner -- temporarily stops execution of a state appellate court panel's decision. The state's highest court, however, has not decided yet whether it will hear arguments on the legality of trial courts granting bail increases on illegal aliens who are accused of serious crimes but have detainers lodged against them by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.


One alleged child molester, Carlos Ulloa-Murillo, was able to post $75,000 bail at the Morris County jail in August, was picked up on an ICE detainer, and quickly deported to his native Honduras -- facts the Morris County Prosecutor's Office learned belatedly in December and before a trial could occur.


The immediate case, on which the prosecutor's office has asked the Supreme Court for intervention, deals with a second accused molester named Manuel Fajardo-Santos, an illegal immigrant from Honduras who is charged with abusing a 9-year-old girl in Wharton. But if the Supreme Court decides to hear the case, its ruling would provide statewide guidance on how trial judges should handle bail applications for illegal immigrants with both ICE detainers and serious criminal charges lodged against them.


Fajardo-Santos posted $75,000 bail on Jan. 8 and was picked up at the county jail on Jan. 12 by ICE. With the experience of the Ulloa-Murillo deportation in mind, prosecutors persuaded a Superior Court judge in Morristown to increase bail to $300,000. Fajardo-Santos was taken from federal custody and returned on the higher bail to the county jail. The appellate division in late January reversed the bail increase, saying the filing of an ICE detainer should have been known to prosecutors and was not a reason warranting a bail hike.


The appeals court did grant a stay of that decision and the Supreme Court's further stay will keep Fajardo-Santos in the county jail until the court decides whether it will hear the case.


County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi has said that ICE has accelerated the pace at which it is picking up suspects with ICE detainers, and that the removal of defendants from this country before their charges can be adjudicated is unfair to the victims and to suspects themselves, who are presumed innocent.


http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/2009 ... 005/NEWS01

Seems to me common sense is being trumped by legal technicalities.