Erik Jovani Martinez already had a lengthy criminal history, and in fact had been deported after a felony conviction. But shortly thereafter his deportation, he returned to this country.
And when he was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend during an argument, Scottsdale Police didn't run his name through the ICE database, which meant rather than facing federal charges, he was allowed to post $300 bail and walk away.
While there's certainly a lot of discussion about the fact that Martinez is an illegal alien and shouldn't have been here, I've seen almost no discussion about this fact.
Martinez was brought to the United States as an infant and lived his whole life here. Clearly, he also was a career criminal, racking up a dozen arrests before he turned 18 and continuing to have brushes with the law afterward.
A dozen arrests before he turned 18? We have a 22-year old cop killer who's been arrested at least 14 times in his young life. My question isn't "what was he doing back in this country?" My question is simply, "why wasn't he behind bars?"
22-year olds, here illegally or native-born, really shouldn't have the ability to rack up that kind of record. At some point we have to say they're a danger to society and give them a real sentence. Unfortunately, that point's been reached... but not until after Officer Erfle's lost his life.
2 comments:
As should all criminals who cannot be trusted with arms.
Woody
My question isn't "what was he doing back in this country?" My question is simply, "why wasn't he behind bars?"
Bingo.
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