Thread: OH prosecutor drops murder case against immigrant!

OH prosecutor drops murder case against immigrant

June 7, 2011, 6:50PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An aggravated murder case against an illegal immigrant was dropped because a judge ruled that a Spanish interpreter flubbed reading the man's his rights in a police interview, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

A prosecutor said that there wasn't enough evidence to go to trial after a Franklin County Common Pleas judge ruled last month to suppress the statements that Antonio M. Martinez-Nunez made in phone interviews with Reynoldsburg police, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

"His statements were the cornerstone of our case," said Assistant Prosecutor Mark Wodarcyk, who had moved to dismiss the charges.
Martinez-Nunez, 31, had been charged with nine counts, including aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse in the death of Armondo Casillas Castanedo, whose body was found in a parked car in the Columbus suburb of Reynoldsburg in August 2009. Police think Castanedo, a 36-year-old illegal immigrant, was killed a few days earlier in a feud over drug territory. An autopsy determined that he was asphyxiated.

Martinez-Nunez was a suspect when he was arrested by the border patrol as he tried to re-enter the country illegally in Texas in February 2010, the newspaper reported. Reynoldsburg police conducted a phone interview with Martinez-Nunez from Texas with the help of a Spanish interpreter in Reynoldsburg, but a defense interpreter found that the first interpreter gave Martinez-Nunez incomplete Miranda warnings of his rights.

The police interpreter failed to tell Martinez-Nunez that he could end the interview at any time, and Martinez-Nunez also made several requests to talk with his consulate that were not acknowledged, defense attorney Brian Rigg told The Associated Press Tuesday.

Rigg also said that police and prosecutors were not aware of the translation problems until the second interpreter pointed them out.
Judge John P. Bessey, who ruled to suppress the statements, said Monday that Martinez-Nunez also didn't receive or sign a written waiver of his rights during the phone interview with police and did not orally waive his rights before making statements that showed "he had knowledge of the killing."

Martinez-Nunez did sign a waiver of his rights after he was returned to Ohio and gave police another interview.
"My concern was, when he got to Ohio, police were building on information that was illegally obtained during the phone interview," Bessey said.

Martinez-Nunez was in the Franklin County jail awaiting deportation, Rigg said.

He said the case illustrates that "the U.S. Constitution applies to everyone."

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... z1OdwbEbyp

He said the case illustrates that "the U.S. Constitution applies to everyone."

It's the U.S. Constitution, not the Mexican Constitution, and only those who are here legally should be allowed its protections. Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

Originally Posted by Mickey

He said the case illustrates that "the U.S. Constitution applies to everyone."

It's the U.S. Constitution, not the Mexican Constitution, and only those who are here legally should be allowed its protections. Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

"It's weight in GOLD!"