Rape Suspect Flagged as Illegal Released Weeks Before Commit

This story was featured on A&E last night on the show called 48 Hours Mystery. Of course they didn't mention he was an illegal alien but they expected him to flee to Mexico. Jesse Benavides was a victim of Barack Obama's immigration policies, actually his let-them-loose policy amnesty.

Also, I'm not sure why the entire article was not originally posted but this is it in its entirety.

Rape suspect flagged as illegal immigrant was released weeks before Dallas murder

Avi Selk/Night Reporter

aselk@dallasnews.com
12:33 AM on Sat., Nov. 5, 2011

A couple weeks ago, TDMN reporter Wendy Hundley wrote a brief blog item on what initially sounded like one of many arguments-turned-fatal in Oak Cliff.

On Monday, victim Jesse Benavides' brother contacted us, asking us to look closer into the history of the accused killer, Santana Gaona.

He was right. There was much more to the story. Here's the top of our article in Saturday's paper (sub required).
Seven weeks before he allegedly shot a man to death at a family birthday party, Santana Gaona was in a Dallas County jail cell -- accused of raping his wife and red-flagged as an illegal immigrant Ineligible for bail and facing deportation hearings, at the least, the 31-year-old floor layer seemed unlikely to be let back on the street any time soon. Then, for unknown reasons, the rape charge collapsed and federal officials halted the deportation process. Gaona was set free.

Now he is back in jail, this time charged with the murder of Jesse Benavides, a family friend who confronted him at the Oct. 22 party while Gaona's wife hid inside a house.

"It shouldn't have happened," said Juan Benavides, the victim's brother. "If someone was an illegal immigrant and had a history of violence, for him to just slip through and open up the murder situation -- nobody understands that."

And no one can explain it. Federal immigration officials say they can't reveal why Gaona was set free before the murder. They won't even say which law enforcement agency requested his release.
It's a bizarre, tragic story that has federal officials turning word somersaults. You'll need a subscription to read the full thing online. If you don't think the story is quite worth $120 annually, you can still get Saturday's paper for a few quarters at any reputable drug store, like back in the old days (2003).

Rape suspect flagged as illegal immigrant was released weeks before Dallas murder | Crime Blog | dallasnews.com