Posted on 02/04/2009 10:19:27 AM PST by AuntB
As illegal immigrant stands trial in fatal stabbing, victim's dad wants to know why authorities didn't detain suspect until after the killing.
Danny Bridges stood near the back of the courtroom before the opening of the murder trial, glowering at the man accused of stabbing his daughter 11 times.
“I didn’t want to see him again,” Bridges said Tuesday, staring at Jeremias Fuentes, who is accused of killing 22-year-old Katherine Ann Bridges on Nov. 25, 2007.
Outside the courtroom, Bridges said the law enforcement system had failed his “special little girl,” born with severe birth defects that left her deaf and with facial deformities.
According to court records, Fuentes was first arrested for beating Bridges in 2004, when she was 19. Arrested in August 2007 for interfering with case workers trying to interview her father about abuse allegations, Fuentes told Harris County jailers that he was in the country illegally, records show.
But immigration officials did not file paperwork to detain Fuentes until after the slaying, records show.
Bridges said he still can’t understand it.
“This guy is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, and no one ever did anything about it,” Bridges said. “They didn’t care. That’s what amazes me most.”
When Bridges, 53, took the stand, he described raising Katherine as single father, and sitting through surgery after surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital.
He said Katherine moved out shortly after she became pregnant, and lived with Fuentes’ family until the couple got their own place.
The prosecutor then asked Bridges to identify her in a morgue photograph. He said, yes, it was his daughter. And then he started to cry.
“I didn’t know it would be that difficult,” Bridges said as he picked up his coat to leave the courtroom.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Thank you, President Bush. Your leadership was felt throughout America.
This is a real tough one but he blames the government. My problem is that he allowed her to move in with the guy.....but it’s the governments fault. Yes, he should have been deported but Dad knew the illegal was abusive. What a mess.
Some families in Colorado are fighting back!
http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_11620839
Lawsuits possible in Aurora immigrant wreck
[snip]The city of Denver bears some responsibility for a crash involving an illegal immigrant that killed three people in Aurora and should pay a woman who was injured $1.9 million, a claim filed with the city states.
Francis Hernandez, 23, a native of Guatemala, is charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of leaving the scene of an accident. He will go on trial in May.
He crashed his Chevy Suburban into a Mazda pickup that was making a turn. Two women in the truck were killed, and their truck slammed into a Baskin-Robbins ice-cream store, killing a 3-year-old boy.
The claim filed on behalf of Rains, who was inside the Baskin-Robbins, states Hernandez had been arrested at least 16 times in the three to four years before the Sept. 4 accident and that many of those occurred in Denver.
“However, despite these numerous arrests and the readily ascertainable illegal-immigrant status of Mr. Hernandez, at no time were proper procedures relating to the reporting, detention and handling of illegal immigrants followed by the law-enforcement agencies of the city of Denver,” the claim states.
The claim, which was filed in November, is a precursor to a lawsuit.
Stuart Morse, the lawyer who filed the claim, said he is considering filing similar claims against other jurisdictions where Hernandez had been arrested in the past.
Another woman also filed a claim seeking $100,000 in damages from the city. She suffered lacerations and contusions, states the claim, also filed by Morse.
There goes the old boss, same as the new boss...
When a child becomes 18 there’s not much a parent can do about who they live with.
Allowed her?!? She was an adult, wasn't she?
Sounds like she was an adult... no 'allowing' required.
That's true but Dad expected the government to do what he couldn't. And some parents do have some control. It sounds as if the daughter didn't listen.
The daughter was physically impaired. Perfect pickings for any predator.
Bottom line. He was an illegal alien who had committed other crimes and should have never been here.
Yes, allowed her. Dad knew the illegal was abusive. Some parents have control some don’t. Some kids are reasonable, some aren’t. Because Dad had no control or influence, it’s the governments fault that she was murdered? Yes, he should have been deported.....but where was Dad’s influence?
Of course they didn't care, Mr. Bridges. After all, you and your daughter are mere Americans.
Where was Dad’s influence? He wants to blame the authorities but why didn’t he or couldn’t he influence her? He knew the illegal was abusive but wants to blame government for not deporting the illegal. It’s easy to blame the government. Again, the illegal should have been deported.......but Dad expected the government to do what he couldn’t or didn’t do.
Katherine Anne Bridges, deaf and mute, was just 19 in the fall of 2004 when she told Harris County authorities that Jeremias Fuentes, her boyfriend (and mother of his two children), tried to grab their 6-month-old baby boy from her arms and kicked her in the face. He hid her emergency phone so she couldn’t call for help. Fuentes was sentenced to 20 days in jail.
Nearly three years later, in August 2007, Fuentes was arrested again, suspected of interfering with case workers trying to interview Bridges about abuse allegations. Fuentes, 36, told jailers he was an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, records show. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail. He was released after ICE didn’t file paperwork to detain him.
Yes, he should have been deported. The illegal should have never been here in the first place But this is also a case of expecting government to protect us. Not gonna happen.
“The illegal should have never been here in the first place But this is also a case of expecting government to protect us. Not gonna happen.”
I realize it isn’t happening, but there is this, the one responsibility of the federal government:
“To protect and defend against enemies foreign and domestic”
Yeah but like you said, we know better. My daughter just said, “The government IS the domestic enemy”.
Mr. Bridges, if it had been my daughter, they would never have found the illegal and there would be no court case.
Amen to that!
Hey; Fuentes voted for Obama. He won’t be punished.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.