A Denver judge raised the bail for a Honduran man accused of killing a young Denver lawyer in an October hit-and-run to $1 million in an effort to ensure he is not deported before facing charges in the case.
As she handed down her decision Friday, District Judge Shelley Gillman said she has seen “enough cases” where defendants were not tried because of deportation.
Prosecutors said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would expel 27-year-old Norlan Estrada-Reyes from the U.S. within a month if Denver authorities were not able to ensure his incarceration before a disposition in the hit-and-run.
Estrada-Reyes is charged with the Class 3 felony count of leaving the scene of the crash that killed 28-year-old Karina Pulec.
He was deported to Honduras in 2007, but returned to the U.S. and was twice arrested in Denver — including for suspicion of driving under the influence — before police say he ran over Pulec in a full-sized pickup truck at East 13th Avenue and Broadway before fleeing.
“We have an absolute guarantee that if there is not a high enough bond in this case, ICE will not transfer him to Denver’s custody,” Denver Chief Deputy District Attorney Julie Hill said in arguing that Estrada-Reyes’ bail be raised to $1 million from $20,000.
Hill said ICE officials had asked Denver prosecutors to seek a no-bond hold for Estrada-Reyes, though his charges aren’t lawfully serious enough to warrant such incarceration. Gilman also ordered that the bail be cash-only.
“This man took my daughter’s life,” Pulec’s mother, Michele, told the court on Friday. “I just would like to see justice for her. I feel like the bond needs to be high enough where he does not go free.”
Brad Lozow, Estrada-Reyes’ attorney, argued against the bail increase, saying $1 million is 100 times more than what a defendant is typically held on in such a case.
“What’s being done in this case, your honor, is ‘let’s treat Mr. Reyes differently,’ ” Lozow told the court.
Lozow declined to speak to a reporter after the hearing.
Estrada-Reyes was wearing tight-fitting jeans and a blue blazer over a white T-shirt in court on Friday. He didn’t speak and used a court interpreter to comprehend the hearing.
He was remanded into the custody of the Denver Sheriff Department. He is due back in court in late April.
On Monday, Estrada-Reyes pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally reentering the U.S. after being previously deported. He was sentenced to 45 days he served in federal detention after being picked up by ICE after a court appearance related to Pulec’s death.
He was then taken into custody by ICE on a hold pending deportation.
Colorado’s U.S. Attorney’s Office decision to charge Estrada-Reyes with an immigration crime was a rare effort to get him off the street.
Estrada-Reyes’ case is the second in the past several months in which a person in the country illegally, who had previous run-ins with police, has been accused in a Denver killing. After a 2013 arrest for making a false report, Estrada-Reyes posted bond and was released before ICE agents reached him. In the other case, a driving under the influence arrest in 2014, ICE was not aware of his arrest or subsequent plea to driving while ability impaired.
The other Denver case involves Ever Valles, 19, who was released from the Denver jail in October after immigration officials flagged him as an enforcement priority. Police say on Feb. 7 that Valles, a known gang member, and another 19-year-old were involved in the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Tim Cruz during a robbery at a light rail station.
Valles, a Mexican citizen, has been charged with first-degree murder.
Colorado jailers say they lack the authority under state law to hold inmates solely because of their immigration status.
Pulec was killed on Oct. 30 and Estrada-Reyes turned himself in to Denver police on Nov. 3. He was charged with felony hit-and-run involving death, driving without proof of insurance and careless driving resulting in death.
According to federal court documents, immigration officers interviewed him Nov. 5 and issued an immigration detainer.
The Denver Sheriff Department says it notified ICE at 1:25 a.m. on Nov. 12 — as the agency had asked — that Estrada-Reyes was set to be released from the city’s jail. He was freed at 7 p.m. that day. He had posted bail late on Nov. 11.
“Due to the Denver (Sheriff Department) local policy, the detainer was not honored and Estrada was released from custody to the streets,” according to the federal records.
It wasn’t until Dec. 5 that immigration officers arrested Estrada-Reyes outside the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse downtown after a court appearance in Pulec’s death. On Jan. 13, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado filed a criminal complaint in federal court accusing him of illegally re-entering the country and he was later indicted on the charge.
Federal prosecutors don’t often charge people in the country illegally, who don’t have an extensive conviction history, with immigration-related crimes, deferring instead to ICE. Acting Colorado U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer said they reserve such prosecutions for immigrants who are a public safety threat — like Estrada-Reyes — in an effort to get them off the street.
