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Date: 05-05-2023
Case Style:
Case Number: 4:21-cr-00231
Judge:
Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas (Pulaski County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office in Little Rock
Defendant's Attorney:
Description: Little Rock, Arkansas criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charge with illegal reentry after deportation.
On March 18, 2020, officers with the Star City Police Department responded to a shots-fired call. When officers arrived, they found Palomerez-Heredia pacing back and forth, appearing aggressive and agitated. While trying to detain Palomerez-Heredia, he charged the officer, punching, scratching, and headbutting the officer multiple times causing injuries to the officer’s mouth, jaw, forearm, and hand. Palomerez-Heredia was eventually subdued and taken into custody.
On September 2, 2021, Palomerez-Heredia was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with illegal reentry. Palomerez-Heredia had been previously deported to Mexico in September 2012.
On September 22, 2021, officers with the Star City Police Department again responded to a shooting call. When officers arrived at the residence, Cristobal Palomerez-Heredia, 45, of Mexico, began shooting at them from his front door. Officers took protective positions as Palomerez-Heredia continued to fire rounds at them. After backup arrived, officers were able to take Palomerez-Heredia into custody. During the execution of a search warrant at the residence, officers located a loaded .22 caliber rifle with a scope, 24 spent .22 shell casings, and an additional loaded magazine. On that same day, agents with the Department of Homeland Security-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS-ICE) positively identified Palomerez-Heredia and arrested him on a federal warrant.
Palomerez-Heredia has prior federal criminal convictions for illegal alien in possession of a firearm (2006) and deported alien found in the United States (2011). Palomerez-Heredia received a 12-year sentence for attempted murder in the Circuit Court of Lincoln County, Arkansas, stemming from the shootout on September 22, 2021.
In addition to the 158-month prison sentence, which Judge Miller ordered to run consecutive to Palomerez-Heredia’s 12-year sentence for attempted murder, Judge Miller sentenced Palomerez-Heredia to serve three years of supervised release following imprisonment. The only condition of Palomerez-Heredia’s supervised release is that he not return to the United States after deportation. The case was investigated by the Star City Police Department and Officer Charles Davis with DHS-ICE; the case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Crews.
8:1326(a) Illegal Re-Entry after Deportation, which provide:
(a) In generalSubject to subsection (b), any alien who—
(1) has been denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed or has departed the United States while an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding, and thereafter
(2) enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in, the United States, unless (A) prior to his reembarkation at a place outside the United States or his application for admission from foreign contiguous territory, the Attorney General has expressly consented to such alien’s reapplying for admission; or (B) with respect to an alien previously denied admission and removed, unless such alien shall establish that he was not required to obtain such advance consent under this chapter or any prior Act,
shall be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.
(b) Criminal penalties for reentry of certain removed aliensNotwithstanding subsection (a), in the case of any alien described in such subsection—
(1) whose removal was subsequent to a conviction for commission of three or more misdemeanors involving drugs, crimes against the person, or both, or a felony (other than an aggravated felony), such alien shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both;
(2) whose removal was subsequent to a conviction for commission of an aggravated felony, such alien shall be fined under such title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both;
(3) who has been excluded from the United States pursuant to section 1225(c) of this title because the alien was excludable under section 1182(a)(3)(B) of this title or who has been removed from the United States pursuant to the provisions of subchapter V, and who thereafter, without the permission of the Attorney General, enters the United States, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under title 18 and imprisoned for a period of 10 years, which sentence shall not run concurrently with any other sentence.[1] or
(4) who was removed from the United States pursuant to section 1231(a)(4)(B) of this title who thereafter, without the permission of the Attorney General, enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in, the United States (unless the Attorney General has expressly consented to such alien’s reentry) shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.
For the purposes of this subsection, the term “removal” includes any agreement in which an alien stipulates to removal during (or not during) a criminal trial under either Federal or State law.
(c) Reentry of alien deported prior to completion of term of imprisonment
Any alien deported pursuant to section 1252(h)(2) [2] of this title who enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in, the United States (unless the Attorney General has expressly consented to such alien’s reentry) shall be incarcerated for the remainder of the sentence of imprisonment which was pending at the time of deportation without any reduction for parole or supervised release. Such alien shall be subject to such other penalties relating to the reentry of deported aliens as may be available under this section or any other provision of law.
(d) Limitation on collateral attack on underlying deportation orderIn a criminal proceeding under this section, an alien may not challenge the validity of the deportation order described in subsection (a)(1) or subsection (b) unless the alien demonstrates that—
(1) the alien exhausted any administrative remedies that may have been available to seek relief against the order;
(2) the deportation proceedings at which the order was issued improperly deprived the alien of the opportunity for judicial review; and
(3) the entry of the order was fundamentally unfair.
Outcome: Defendant was sentenced to 13-years and two months in prison.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: