Judge West upholds ruling in Velazques case but adds stipulation

The State’s motion to reconsider a ruling from Judge Gary Ortego where he denied their request to hold illegal immigrant Arturo Velazques without bond was heard by Judge Chuck West on Thursday. However, Evangeline Parish Assistant District Attorney Timmy Fontenot’s new argument that the 31-year-old who was arrested for vehicular homicide needed to be held without bond due to our newly elected president’s strong stance on deporting illegal immigrants wasn’t enough to sway the judge.
Fontenot said, “The State’s concern is that our new president, who was elected on a platform of deporting illegal immigrants, once in office, will begin deporting all illegal immigrants. If Mr. Velazques is deported we fear we will never get him back here to pay for the crime he has committed and that family will never get to see this man go to jail.”
The State became concerned that Velazques would be deported after DA Investigator Marcus Aucoin was informed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Officer that if Velazques bonded out, they would come pick him up and he would be deported. However, the DA’s office had no paperwork to back up this claim.
The defense used the State’s lack of evidence to argue that there was no proof that Velazques would be deported and unable to appear in court to answer to the charges he has been accused of if he bonded out of jail.
Velazques, who has been deported from this country twice already, was arrested back in September of 2016 after being involved in a fatal car crash on La. Highway 13, which claimed the life of 31-year-old Dustin Vidrine of Ville Platte.
While it looked as though Judge Ortego’s previous ruling in this matter would not be changed, the chance of that happening became more likely when Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Barry Giglio informed the court that a detainer had been faxed in September to the sheriff’s office from the Department of Homeland Security proving that ICE did in fact have a hold on Velazques.
Once this paperwork was made public to the court, the State’s claim that Velazques would be deported if released from jail became more real.
When it came to the ruling, Judge Ortego’s previous decision stayed in tact and Velazques’s bond remained at $100,000.
However, Judge West did add a new stipulation to his bond.
Judge West said, “It is not proper for one judge to second guess another judge, therefore I am not going to change the previous ruling. But, I will specify what type of bail the defendant will have. The defendant’s bail must be posted with cash. He must have $100,000 cash of U.S. currency to post bail.”
Velazques’s next court date has been set for February 23, 2017.
District Attorney Trent Brignac released a statement on Friday explaining the DA’s office’s decision to request having Velazques held without bond.
The release explained that the motion was filed “out of concern that his status as an illegal immigrant makes him a significant flight risk.”
It then continued, “Velasques should not be allowed to potentially avoid answering to the criminal charges he faces which include vehicular homicide wherein an innocent Evangeline Parish resident’s life was taken. Valasques should not receive more favorable treatment than an American Citizen charged with the same crime.
“To allow him to escape justice by returning to freedom in his home country of Mexico would be an injustice to the victim, his family and all other Americans who must abide by our country’s laws.”