Published: September 14, 2009 10:46 pm

Cocaine dealer handed 14 years

Defendant had sought probation so he could be deported to Mexico.
by Kevin Lilly
Pharos-Tribune

An immigrant facing cocaine dealing charges in Cass County will not be going home to his native Mexico as soon as he had hoped.

Through an interpreter on Monday, 48-year-old Antonio Luis Hernandez suggested that the 555 days he had served in the Cass County Jail should be adequate punishment for dealing $300 in cocaine, and that he should receive probation, which would result in quicker deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Cass Superior Court II Judge Rick Maughmer disagreed, sentencing Hernandez to 14 years in prison.

Defense attorney Robert Caravelli tried to convince the judge that his client had dealt cocaine only one time, which happened to be to a confidential informant working for the Cass County Drug Task Force. He asked that Hernandez receive probation for the remainder of the six-year minimum permitted under a class B felony.

Deputy prosecutor James Ackermann asked for the 20-year maximum, saying Hernandez had spread “poisonâ€