An lawyer for the Haitian nationwide charged final yr with raping a 15-year-old “disabled” lady at a Rockland migrant resort says the courts are within the improper for elevating the defendant’s bail to $150,000 primarily based on a deportation order.
Lawyer Brian A. Kelley argued that judges at a decrease court docket and the state’s highest court docket didn’t have the precise to think about Cory Alvarez’s imminent deportation order final fall together with his elevated bail from an preliminary $500.
Brockton Superior Courtroom Choose Elaine Buckley upped Alvarez’s bail to $150,000 final October, discovering that the energy of the case mixed with “the defendant’s lack of ties to the community and his flight risk” warranted the considerably greater determine.
SJC Justice Serge Georges Jr. shot down Kelley’s preliminary attraction of the upper bail in a single justice session a month later, ruling that Buckley “did not abuse her discretion in determining that this high amount is necessary to assure the defendant’s appearance at trial.”
The upper bail was set as a result of prosecution’s fears that ICE would deport Alvarez, topic to an imminent deportation order, earlier than the accused rapist could possibly be convicted for his crimes.
Kelley argued in entrance of the SJC on Wednesday that deportation is “not an enumerated factor for judges to consider” in setting bail, tying his stance to what he mentioned was authorized statute.
“We know that deportation has been an issue,” Kelley mentioned. “It’s not as if the Legislature is not aware of this. If they wanted to make that a consideration, they certainly could have … but they chose not to. That seems to me a glaring omission in the statute.”
The protection lawyer added that this case “bothers” him as a result of “it is completely out of Alvarez’s hands.” Kelley mentioned the defendant didn’t violate the situations of his launch, which he argued sometimes triggers will increase in bail.
Prosecutors have referred to as the defendant’s “reliance” on the truth that the statute doesn’t explicitly listing “deportation” in bail consideration as “wholly misplaced.”
“The bail statute does not require the strict adherence to an exclusive elemental list of factors,” Plymouth County First Assistant District Lawyer John P. Zanini wrote in a March briefing. “Although it does direct the judge to consider certain factors, it does not preclude other relevant facts from informing the Court’s decision.”
He added: “The truth that the statute permits for a better than inexpensive bail to be set … reinforces and makes clear that the first objective of the statute is to guarantee a defendant’s presence for trial.
Alvarez is claimed to have entered the nation “lawfully” in June 2023 by way of a Biden administration humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, however he had since violated the phrases of his admittance.
The defendant is accused of raping a teen lady who police described in a report as “disabled,” however didn’t specify any particular incapacity. He has pleaded not responsible.
Alvarez and the alleged sufferer each lived on the Consolation Inn at 850 Hingham St. in Rockland, which had been transformed to a migrant housing facility that operated underneath each state and federal applications, in response to prosecutors.
Within the briefing filed in March, Zanini highlighted Alvarez “moved yet again” after posting bail. Deportation officers arrested Alvarez final August “near his residence in Brockton” after a Plymouth court docket didn’t honor a federal immigration detainer
The prosecutor mentioned Wednesday that Alvarez might be transferred from state to federal custody on the finish of the case.
“The United States government can go pick up Mr. Alvarez, take him into custody, and remove him anytime they want, and they have not,” Zanini mentioned. “They have not because they’re respecting … our custody so that we can proceed with our trial.”
Initially Printed: Could 7, 2025 at 9:38 PM EDT
