Prosecutors in Los Angeles are seeking the death penalty for a 20-year-old illegal alien gang member charged with the brutal murder of a promising high school athlete. It was a crime one immigration reform activist says should have been prevented.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office announced it will seek the death penalty against Pedro Espinoza for the 2008 killing of 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw II. Espinoza is an illegal immigrant and member of the notorious 18th Street gang. Shaw was a standout running back on his high school football team. In June, a judge ordered Espinoza to trial for first-degree murder, along with a special circumstance gang allegation. The suspect has pleaded not guilty. Espinoza had been released from a jail on a firearms charge a day before Shaw was killed. Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform says Espinoza's release last year was inexcusable. "The local police never took the trouble to find out he was an illegal alien and remand him to federal authorities," he points out. "If they had done that, they would not have put him back out on the streets. He would have been remanded to federal custody and never had the opportunity to murder Jamiel Shaw." Indeed, Shaw's parents are suing the county on grounds that Espinoza should have been turned over to immigration authorities instead of being freed.
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