Detainee in Aurora may get chance at freedom
Rene Lima-Marin’s unusual story of crime and rehabilitation, derailed for nearly five months as authorities sought to deport him to his native Cuba, took one more twist when an immigration court dismissed his case late last week, possibly opening the door to his release from detention, his attorney said Tuesday.
The decision could soon reunite Lima-Marin with his wife, Jasmine, and sons Justus, 10, and Josiah, 7, at their Aurora home. Their saga played out over years and became an emotional rollercoaster for the family as his freedom was granted and pulled away twice after his conviction on charges stemming from a pair of Aurora video store robberies in 1998, when he was 19.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have 30 days to appeal, but Lima-Marin’s attorney, Aaron Elinoff, said he was told to expect word by the end of the day, “so we’re sitting on the edge of our seats.”
If ICE declines to appeal, LimaMarin could be released soon after.
“They closed his immigration case, he walks free and we put the nightmare behind us,” Elinoff
said.
Jasmine, who has seen the couple’s hopes dashed before, remained hopeful that this legal episode would mark the end of the story.
“I’m just waiting,” she said, “just waiting to see what happens and hoping he comes home today, that’s all. I won’t be saying anything to the boys until he’s actually out of the facility.”
An ICE official said only that Lima-Marin would remain in custody until it makes a decision on an appeal.
Lima-Marin, mistakenly released in 2008 from a 98year prison sentence, had completed parole and built a new, productive life and family when the paperwork error was discovered in 2014. He was returned to prison, but last May Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour Jr. granted his petition for habeas corpus and ordered him released.
In the wake of bipartisan legislative resolutions urging clemency, Gov. John Hickenlooper pardoned LimaMarin just hours after the judge’s ruling in hope of avoiding deportation because of his conviction. But immigration authorities took Lima-Marin into custody immediately upon his release. He has remained at the Aurora detention facility since then, battling to have his case reopened and resolved.
Though born in Havana, Lima-Marin, now 39, came to the U.S. with his family when he was about 2 years old in the 1980 Mariel boatlift that brought roughly 125,000 refugees to Florida.
Lima-Marin and accomplice Michael Clifton were sentenced in 2000 for the robberies. No one was injured in the crimes, and Lima-Marin maintained that the gun he carried was not loaded. Although their sentences for a litany of charges were meant to be served consecutively, a clerk’s error listed them as running concurrently.
Clifton, whose sentencing error was discovered and corrected when he appealed his conviction, remains in prison. LimaMarin did not appeal his conviction.
His attorney said that Lima-Marin originally was ordered removed from the U.S. after his conviction and sentencing in 2000. But upon his parole, ICE didn’t pursue the deportation order. Meanwhile, he worked several menial jobs before advancing to a well-paying position as a glazier, married Jasmine and became father to two sons.
But in 2014, the sentencing error was discovered, and Lima-Marin was quickly returned to custody.
In April, the Colorado House approved a bipartisan resolution urging Hickenlooper to grant LimaMarin clemency. The state Senate then followed suit. The joint legislative resolution stated: “LimaMarin is deserving of clemency by the governor due to the dramatic positive changes he has made in his life.” Then came the pardon. “Without Gov. Hickenlooper’s pardon,” said Elinoff, “this would not have been possible.”