Inmate mistakenly released from prison in 2008 wins deportation case
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A former inmate who built a life for himself after he was mistakenly released from prison in 2008 has won another reprieve, this time from an immigration court.
Rene Lima-Marin won dismissal of the immigration case that had sought to deport him to Cuba, report the Denver Post, the Associated Press and CBS Denver.
The government could appeal last week’s immigration decision; if it decides against an appeal, Lima-Marin “walks free and we put the nightmare behind us,” his lawyer, Aaron Elinoff, said in an interview with the Denver Post.
It is the second legal victory for Lima-Marin. In May, a Colorado judge ruled he did not have to serve the final 90 years of his sentence for participating in two video store robberies committed at age 19.
Lima-Marin had been sentenced in 2000. He was mistakenly paroled in 2008. Over the ensuing five years, he married, became a father, became active in his church and got a job.
The mistake was discovered in 2014 and Lima-Marin was sent back to prison. After the Colorado judge ruled for Lima-Marin in May, he was arrested by immigration authorities. Lima-Marin came to the United States with his parents as a toddler during the 1980 Mariel boatlift.
in May, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper pardoned Lima-Marin in a bid to help him avoid deportation.
