Rockville High School gang rape suspect Henry Sanchez is scheduled to be in court today to face charges in the alleged March 16 attack in a school bathroom. Sanchez's attorney, Andrew Jezic, has told the Washington Post that prosecutors told him they are dropping the rape case against Sanchez. Prosecutors have not publicly confirmed that report as of press time.
Should the charge be dropped, it would raise serious questions about the prosecution of this case. As defense attorneys engaged in victim shaming, prosecutors seemed to suggest that Sanchez's alleged role in the attack was the more egregious. Even if a consensual encounter in a school bathroom had been planned between the victim and alleged rapist Jose Montano (and no evidence has been made public to support that contention), that did not mean the victim had agreed Sanchez could participate, prosecutors argued.
If their case against Sanchez falls apart today, then, where does that leave the victim and the case against Montano? As for Sanchez, the Post reports prosecutors will pursue a child pornography case against him, for possessing photos of the victim that were forwarded to him by Montano.
Regardless of the outcome of the case, Sanchez faces immediate deportation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), unless Montgomery County politicians help him escape by not honoring the ICE detainer. Both Sanchez and Montano are in the country illegally.
Can protecting/hiding illegals be considered tantamount to aiding and abetting or harboring a criminal (if they are defined as such)? I'm not a legal person and I really don't know the answer but I'm just curious. Seems like such a judgement would make any sanctuary city policy fly in the face of proper execution of the law.
ReplyDeleteIllegal immigration is not always a criminal offense. If someone immigrates legally, but then overstays a visa, it is actually a civil offense. Crossing the border illegally is a federal criminal offense. But sanctuary policies don't prevent ICE from picking up people, it just means that a local jurisdiction won't agree to hold them for up to 30 days in the local jail to wait for ICE to get around to coming and getting them. Put another way, if ICE comes to the MC Jail with a warrant for someone who is there, the Jail won't smuggle the person out the back, they will let ICE take them into custody. They just won't wait for a week while the feds get their act together.
DeleteICE has a detainer on Sanchez, so if he is released next Friday (reportedly) and is not met by ICE agents, it will prove MoCo did not honor the detainer. ICE likely has a detainer on Montano, even if they can't talk about it due to him being a minor. So if we hear about Montano being in Montgomery County after today, we'll also know that the County did not honor the ICE detainer on Montano.
DeleteIs this sponsored content?
ReplyDelete"If their case against Sanchez falls apart today, then, where does that leave the victim and the case against Montano?"
ReplyDeleteMontano's case has already been dismissed as of this morning. Sanchez's dismissal trial is next Friday.
Looks like the old legacy print media has burned you badly this morning.
11:08: Read the next story I posted more recently, genius.
DeleteYou published that article at 11:17 AM. Other news sites had published the news long before then.
ReplyDelete11:49 This morning? Very few had, by that point. Just the Post and Fox 5. Not to mention I never claimed to be first. I was the very first to report the Rockville High School gang rape story, however.
DeleteThanks for the clarification Anonymous (11:01 AM)! So I just re-read my original post (i.e. "I'm not a legal person") and realized my poor choice of words...made it sound like I'm an illegal when I meant to say I'm not a legal EXPERT lol. Amazing what one word can do...whoops! Apologies.
ReplyDelete-Anonymous (10:33 am)