Two weeks ago, Juan Carlos Santos-Hernandez was sitting in a Forsyth County jail cell after being charged with three felonies in connection with the molestation of a 10-year-old girl.
A written plea offer prepared by prosecutor Kia Chavious spelled out the likely path for the 21-year-old: Plead guilty and the state will agree to let you be sentenced for one felony instead of three. You might get out in 25 years. Wait much longer or take your chances with a jury, you may die behind bars.
Now that's moot, thanks to an ill-advised policy being followed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. Within a week or two, Santos-Hernandez could be lying on a beach in Acapulco, a free man sipping cervezas in Mexico.
"He very well may get a pass on these charges," Chavious said in court last week. "(ICE) understands our position, but there is no mechanism to stop it. Once the ball is rolling, nothing is going to stop it."
Road map to a loophole
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