INMATE

tive tie.

His family sat in the front row, one of his sons sitting on his grandfather’s lap. His mother shook with emotion at times, at one point muttering a prayer. After his testimony, he waved at his family and gave his son a big smile.

During the hearing, LimaMarin admitted he had made a mistake but said he served the appropriate amount of time for his crime.

“I was a stupid child, a dumb kid that made a mistake. I was given trumpedup charges for who knows what reason,” he said. “I deserve to be punished, I admit that, but not 98 years.”

Attorneys with the Colorado Department of Corrections questioned wheth- er Lima-Marin knew he was released erroneously, which he said he didn’t. Instead, “all I knew was my prayers had been answered.”

They also argued that it would not be fair for LimaMarin to get off early due to a clerical error while his partner in the robberies, Michael Clifton, is still serving his 98-year sentence.

The attorneys pointed to the case of Evan Ebel, someone mistakenly released early from prison who then killed prisons director Tom Clements.

The crowd in the courtroom grumbled at the state’s arguments and at times turned to their faith, saying, “This is in your hands, God.”

After the hearing, LimaMarin’s attorney Jamie Halscott criticized the Department of Corrections’ attempts to prove that Lima-Marin knew his release was a mistake, saying the state was trying to depict him as a Lex Luthor-like criminal mastermind gaming the system.

“Obviously, when the state doesn’t have much to go on, that’s what they’re going to say,” Halscott said.

Lima-Marin enlisted Halscott, a Florida appeals specialist, after the firm at which he is a managing partner won a similar case in Missouri.

During the hearing, Jasmine told a story about when her husband wore his favorite red jacket to a pizza parlor during a rough snowstorm. When he left the restaurant, he wasn’t wearing the jacket.

When she asked him where it went, he said a homeless man had complimented him on his jacket, so he gave it to him.

“He’s a changed person. He’s been rehabilitated,” Jasmine said. “He’s shown that he can be a productive member of society. I don’t think it’s going to accomplish anything by making him spend his life in prison.”