A statewide three-judge panel will once again hear the case of a Juneau criminal who is facing deportation after being convicted on drug and interference charges.
Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg on Monday agreed to re-send the case of 37-year-old Jose Manuel Perez to the judicial panel for sentencing purposes.
The three judges on the panel answered specific legal questions in Perez’s case in April on direction from the Court of Appeals. The panel now is being asked to sentence Perez.
Perez is a citizen of the Dominican Republic who has been living lawfully in Alaska since 2000.
He pleaded guilty to fourth-degree felony drug misconduct for selling heroin out of his Switzer Village trailer last year. He originally faced more serious charges of possessing heroin with intent to distribute, but a jury deadlocked on that charge in August.
A jury did convict him, however, on fourth-degree assault and interference with official proceedings charges for getting into a jailhouse fight with another inmate at Lemon Creek Correctional Center while awaiting his trial.
If Perez receives more than a year sentence on the interference conviction, he will be deported to his native Dominican Republic. An immigration attorney testified in April that Perez would be eligible to apply for a one-time waiver of removal proceedings on the drug conviction which would give him a chance to avoid deportation. That waiver is not available for the interference conviction.
Public defender David Seid argued Perez should receive a 364-day sentence for the interference, one day less than the presumptive sentencing range, to keep Perez in the United States. Seid requested a non-statuary mitigating factor to allow for that.
Pallenberg is not allowed to consider mitigating factors that aren’t listed in Alaska statutes — only the panel of three can.
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (38)
Add commentInconsistency within the article
Selling heroin is the same thing as possession with intent to distribute. Therefore, selling heroin is not a lesser offense. According to the article, a jury did not find him guilty of possession with intent to distribute (selling). Instead, he pleaded guilty to 4th degree drug misconduct. According to courtview and further googling, that's possession only.
This article is not very clear/accurate, but hey, it's easier to call him a drug dealer even though no jury found that to be the case, and he didn't admit to it. The Empire, it seems, would do better to not spend so much time with embedded links, and instead spend more time understanding what is reporting on - if it wanted to provide a higher quality product (so to speak).
FBomb
Great call on the Empire. We live in interesting times when we can verify information online and bad reporting can be called out. That didn't used to be the case.
I have studied the Constitution EXTENSIVELY regarding immigration and states rights.
What I see here as the biggest failure is our own immigration system. It isn't just broken, it's crumbled. I've witnessed first hand what people go through to become US citizens. It can be extremely costly and frustrating.
One aspect I find odd is that people from other countries can enlist in our military, take the oath to protect and defend the Constitution, get shot, sometimes die, and never be US citizens. They fight and die to protect our values and way of life. This makes no sense to me. Immigrants who fight for our way of life and make those sacrifices are willing to give more to our country than many US born citizens.
Another thing I find frustrating is what this man is going through. In my mind, he's a heroin dealer and needs to have the book thrown at him and receive the MAXIMUM penalty. Heroin is not marijuana, it DESTROYS lives with an addiction that far surpasses most drugs. But on the other hand, he moved here in what, second grade. Did he attend school through elementary, junior high and high school to graduate? If he did, he should have had the knowledge necessary to take the test and become a US citizen. Why aren't immigrants approached by INS and told that they either need to test or move home at some point? He has roots here, all his friends are here, all the history he has ever been taught has been US history. He lived here for about 29 years of his 37 year life. I'm sure if he was given the ultimatum long ago, he would have chosen to take the test.
Our system is broken. I believe what we should take out of this article is seeing how broken our system is regarding immigration. We all feel he needs to receive punishment for his crime. Nobody disagrees with that. Maybe we can try to get our legislators to look at fixing immigration policy! But, I believe immigration is a lot like other topics legislators fail us on. Those topics that are used to pull the wool over our eyes and get elected, yet never act on.
Fortunately, we live in interesting times. With the flow of information online, bad reporting can be seen by those who are not sheep. Corruption is called out. If we so choose to look, we can find video footage on YouTube of what goes on. We can see the flaws in conspiracy theories by simply using Google Earth. We can look up legislation online and see what it actually says rather than taking our friends words for it.
The political parties need to wake up and come to understand that we can no longer be kept in the dark.
If this guy has lived here so
If this guy has lived here so long it was up to him to approach INS about getting naturalized. Somebody stated that his mother had gone through the process and is now a US citizen. If his mother knew enough to take care of things, why couldn't he? He never bothered to take care of things and now he's behind the eight ball. Bummer for him, but maybe a win for our society as we can easily rid ourselves of an undesirable element.
The guy is a low-life thug who has been a repeat offender his entire adult life. I have no sympathy for him. Let him take his hustle to the streets of Santa Domingo.
A very good friend of mine
A very good friend of mine just became a US national by taking the test, after dropping $500 to take it. It's an easy test, it's the money that turns everyone off. Just info some of you seemed to not have...
Changes things? Probably not but still, NOW YOU KNOW!!!! :)
This is just a guess
... but I don't think Jose would have had any problem raising $500 after selling all that heroin.
Apologies to J.E. Fume
You are correct. I mis-read a previous article and have since retracted what I said. Thank you.