Sunday, April 15, 2018

Legal US resident arrested for wrongful conviction

Man freed after wrongful conviction, only to be taken into custody by immigration authorities - Chicago Tribune - Gregory Pratt & Megan Crepeau:

March 30, 2018 - "In the two decades since Ricardo Rodriguez was convicted of murder, he has maintained his innocence. This week, the Cook County state’s attorney agreed to drop the case against him amid allegations that a discredited police detective manipulated witnesses. But instead of walking out of prison a free man Wednesday, Rodriguez was taken into custody by federal immigration authorities....

"Before he was sent to prison for a 1995 murder, Rodriguez was a lawful permanent resident. His status was revoked when he was convicted, his attorneys said. Now he faces the possibility of being deported despite being freed....

"'A case with a conviction and then vacating a murder conviction, I haven’t heard of that,' said Erin Cobb, a vice chair on the American Immigration Lawyers Association Chicago chapter’s board....

"According to data compiled by the National Registry of Exonerations, a wrongful conviction database maintained by the University of Michigan, at least 159 people have been freed from prison after being convicted in Cook County — a staggering sum that ranks Cook County higher than almost every state for exonerations. That figure doesn’t include Rodriguez’s case....

"Rodriguez’s conviction stems from a drive-by in Humboldt Park, his attorneys said. A homeless man, Rodney Kemppainen, who did neighborhood jobs for people in exchange for sleeping in garages, was killed in the shooting.... Rodriguez did not confess to the killing, and there is no physical evidence linking him to the crime, the attorneys said.

"One of the witnesses who testified against Rodriguez claimed he was manipulated by Guevara, according to the attorneys.... [T]he Exoneration Project found another witness who said Rodriguez was not the shooter."

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-wrongful-conviction-legal-resident-20180328-story.html
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