Re: Illegal alien getting second court-appointed lawyer

[norton@cybertrails.com arminius]

<edi...@netpath.net> wrote in message
news:1134708320.2...@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Normally here in North Carolina, you can't get a court-appointed
> lawyer in Guilford County in a noncapital case if you have so much as
> any car of any kind; you really do have to be almost homeless for a
> judge in Guilford County to appoint you court-appointed counsel in a
> noncapital case; lots of experience practicing law there in the 1990s
> taught me this. But an illegal alien - who, by age 24, had bought his
> own middle-class home on his $44,200 salary as a printer - already has
> one public defender in an adjoining county and is about to get a second
> appointed for his Guilford County cases!
> Note also that this state getting its first substantial nontransient
> population of illegal aliens starting just eight years ago has resulted
> in a sharp upsurge in court translator fees in the past decade - from
> near zero before.
> From today's Greensboro News & Record, below:
> ==================================================================
> Guilford County's public defender says his office stands ready to
> assist an illegal immigrant arrested in eight sexual assaults in
> Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem.
> But the office is seldom tapped to defend people not legally in this
> country, said Wally Harrelson, Guilford's public defender.
> "This would be the exception rather than the rule," he said of Gilberto
> Cruz Hernandez's situation.
> Hernandez, 24, faces trial in the series of assaults that also involves
> burglary and kidnapping, four cases each in Guilford and Forsyth
> counties. After his arrest, federal authorities said he is a
> twice-deported illegal immigrant.
> In Winston-Salem, Hernandez is being represented by the Forsyth County
> public defender on the assaults there. But he has yet to have an
> initial hearing in Guilford for legal counsel to be appointed on the
> other charges.
> Hernandez qualified for representation as an indigent even though he
> owns a home in Winston-Salem, bought with a $123,000 loan backed by the
> federal government.
> In a separate action this week, the loan sparked a move in Washington
> to stop such loans to illegal immigrants.
> U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-Banner Elk, wants to ban federal agencies
> from giving loans or credit to illegal immigrants, a proposal that
> could see action today on the floor of the House.
> "What has happened with Mr. Hernandez shows how easy it is for illegal
> aliens to take many of the privileges of being an American citizen even
> when authorities have previously determined they are here illegally,"
> Foxx said.
> Harrelson, the Guilford public defender, said he and his counterpart in
> Forsyth, Pete Clary, discussed Hernandez's case briefly last month.
> Hernandez initially was arrested in Forsyth after DNA allegedly linked
> him to the assaults.
> In Guilford, Harrelson estimates that illegal immigrants are less than
> "one-half of 1 percent" of his office's workload.
> But generally, across the state, there's evidence that illegal
> immigrants are making increasing demands on tax-funded public
> defenders.
> Although state government doesn't track public-defender aid to illegal
> immigrants, it is paying increasing amounts for the interpreters often
> needed by illegal immigrants, said Tye Hunter, director of the state
> Office of Indigent Services.
> The tab went from almost zero 10 years ago to about $2 million per year
> now, Hunter said.
> He noted there isn't a direct link between the fees and illegal
> immigrants because some legally present defendants need translators'
> help, too.
> By law, governments must provide legal aid at public expense to
> indigent, illegal immigrants.
> That's because the U.S. Constitution assures all "persons" -- not just
> "citizens" -- equal treatment and due process, said Erwin Chemerinsky,
> a Duke University law professor.
> "The U.S. Supreme Court has said that when the Constitution speaks of
> 'persons,' it protects even a person here illegally," Chemerinksy said
> ===================================================================
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>
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Hank

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