Posted on 11/16/2010 4:38:20 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
It could be months before Jessica Colotl, the Kennesaw State University student whose arrest spawned a passionate debate about illegal immigrants attending state colleges, completes her jail sentence, if at all, according to the Cobb County solicitor.
Colotl was sentenced Monday to three days in Cobb County’s jail. She spent 45.5 hours in jail before she was tried, so the remaining 26.5 hours will not be served until the Georgia Court of Appeals rules on her expected challenge.
"It's like the sentence hangs out there, in limbo," Cobb Solicitor Barry Morgan told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "All of that's on hold until the case comes back from the Court of Appeals."
Morgan said that decision could be three to four months off.
Earlier Monday, Cobb State Court State Judge Kathryn Tanksley sentenced the 22-year-old Colotl to three days in jail, including the time already served. She could have received as much as 12 months in jail; the Cobb County solicitor had asked for 10 days.
She also was sentenced to 11 months and 27 days on probation, and fined $1,000.
The appeal is expected to repeat defense attorney Jerome Lee's argument during the trial that Colotl should be acquitted of the driving without a license charge because she recently obtained a learner's permit, which will be suspended for six months. State law allows for a not guilty verdict if a person facing a driving with no license charge comes to court with a driver's license in hand.
Morgan said the intent of that law was to cover those who were stopped and just did not have a license with them. It also applies to those with permits to drive and not those who must have a licensed adult driver in the front seat when they are behind the wheel.
Colotl was first jailed last March, the day after a KSU campus police officer stopped her for allegedly blocking traffic in a parking lot as she waited for a space to open up.
She was not arrested for allegedly impeding traffic, though, because she told the officer she had a Mexican drivers license but could not find it; Colotl came to the United States as a child when her parents immigrated to the United States illegally.
She had until the next day to produce the Mexican license.
Colotl came to the campus police station the following morning, as instructed, but said she didn’t have a license after all.
Colotl was arrested, taken to jail and turned over to federal immigration officers as part of a local-federal partnership called 287(g), which allows Cobb County deputies to verify the immigration status of inmates.
But after 37 days in several immigration detention centers, Colotl was granted a year-long deportation deferment to finish her studies. She is on track to graduate next spring with a bachelor's degree in political science and a minor in French.
Meanwhile, her arrest led to demonstrations, protests and political debate. People were angered to learn that Colotl, a graduate of a DeKalb County high school, had attended KSU as a Georgia resident, paying a much lower in-state tuition.
State colleges have been allowed to admit illegal immigrants, but those students were charged the higher out-of-state tuition, which was not the case with Colotl.
Last month, however, the State Board of Regents voted to ban illegal immigrants from attending Georgia's top public colleges starting next fall.
And last week, the board barred illegal immigrants from attending any public college that has turned away academically qualified students for the past two years because of space or other issues. That new rule also starts next fall and affects the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Medical College of Georgia and Georgia College & State University.
Illegal immigrants may be admitted to the remaining 30 campuses.
Still, lawmakers have said they will introduce a bill in the next legislative session to keep illegal immigrants from enrolling in all public colleges -- the 35 institutions in the University System of Georgia and the 26 in the Technical College System of Georgia.
Deport this federal-law-breaking illegal alien immediately. Seize any assets she has to reimburse the American citizens who paid taxes to subsidize her illegal attendance at college.
PING
“So an illegal immigrant gets a light sentence AND a deferment so she can finish up her studies. Plus they give her a year’s probation. What do you think the odds are of her ever being deported? And you wonder why illegals treat our laws with such disdain. As disgusted as I am with this case I’m even more disgusted with a governent that refuses to act on our behalf and coddles criminals”
She’s a citizen of the North American Union, she didn’t break any laws. Just ask Jorge Arbusto. :)
How does an illegal immigrant get a learners permit?
...Colotl was granted a year-long deportation deferment to finish her studies.
Am told by friends that suburbs immediately outside of Atlanta's perimeter (circular freeway system) most susceptible to foreclosures are being heavily populated by apparent non-citizens from the south.
One thing the papers never mention is her parents who brought her here in the first place. Somehow I doubt they have been deported but I'm not sure. Her argument is that she spent her childhood here, went to school here and lived like any American teenager through no fault of her own. The government actually buys into this line of reasoning which is why they have been coddling her. There are a few who are actually trying to do their jobs but enough enablers are here to let her get away with it. In case any of you have forgotten our 2 Senators were on the shamnesty bandwagon until an angry mob made them back off. They may be in retreat but make no mistake they would sell us out in a minute if it meant winning over the Hispanic voting bloc.
I want to know how she is getting to school? She has no driver’s license. Someone should follow her to see if she does drive again.
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