Judge Drops Charges Against Mexican National Accused of Raping 12-Year-Old
It now looks like the young victim of a heinous sexual assault will not see justice after a judge dropped charges against a man accused of raping her despite “pretty clear evidence” that the court had the right person.
According to The Journal Times in Racine, Wisconsin, the man — part of a duo accused of raping the same young girl — originally faced a 60-year prison sentence and deportation.
The accused rapist, Juan Ramon-Pacheco, is a Mexican national.
Ramon-Pacheco and Guatemalan national Lorenzo Bernabe-Lucas were charged after a young girl was brought to the hospital experiencing abdominal pains.
Doctors discovered the girl was 38 weeks pregnant, and she soon gave birth.
The girl identified Ramon-Pacheco and Bernabe-Lucas as the men who assaulted her.
Despite the sickening nature of the alleged crime, Ramon-Pacheco caught a break: The Racine County District Attorney’s Office put in a request to drop his charges, which Racine Circuit Court Judge Mark Nielsen approved in March.
Although Nielsen agreed to drop the charges, he expressed hesitation due to the facts of the case.
“I have seen a lot weaker cases proceed to trial. I am trying to understand why [the prosecutor] wants me to dismiss other than the fact that the gentleman will be deported,” Nielsen said at the time, according to The Journal Times.
“In this case: an accusation of sexual assault of a child,” the judge said. “You appear to have a fair amount of pretty clear evidence that he committed these crimes.”
The prosecution argued that since Ramon-Pacheco was likely to be deported, he didn’t pose any threat to public safety.
“He will be subject to deportation proceedings,” Assistant District Attorney Diane Donohoo said, according to The Journal Times. “He has been in custody for a substantial period of time here. Given all of that, I believe that it is in the best interests of the victim and it does not harm the public that this case be dismissed at this time.”
But deportation isn’t always the end of the story.
Considering how easy it is for determined individuals to illegally enter the country, deportation isn’t the punishment it’s being made out to be.
And without a criminal record that could have resulted from his trial, Ramon-Pacheco can enter the U.S. while any prospective employers and acquaintances have no clue about his past.
Ramon-Pacheco should be made to stand trial as a jury decides his fate based on the apparently damning amount of evidence and the testimony of a young girl.
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