Story highlights Rene Lima-Marin was released improperly in 2008 and rearrested in 2014
During the years he was free, he found a job, got married, started raising a family, and purchased a home, said his attorney Kimberly Diego
(CNN) A Colorado man who was sent back to prison after being mistakenly released was told by a judge Tuesday that he is a free man.
Rene Lima-Marin was serving a 98-year prison term for robbing two video stores in 1998. He was released, improperly, in 2008, but was rearrested in 2014, when authorities realized the mistake. In a 165-page decision, Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour Jr. said "it would be utterly unjust to compel Lima-Marin, at this juncture, to serve the rest of his extremely long sentence"
In the six years that Lima-Miran was free, he found a job, got married, started raising a family, and purchased a home, said his attorney Kimberly Diego. "His case was unique in that sense," she said. "Not all people who are rehabilitated behave that way."
Lima-Marin was called an "asset to society" and an "outstanding citizen" who worked with young people encouraging them to make good decisions, per the judge's ruling.
The mix-up for the father of two boiled down to an error in paperwork that said Lima-Miran's sentences were to be served concurrently, instead of consecutively.
adudenamedrf on May 17th, 2017 at 14:33 UTC »
Very glad that the judge had the sense to realize that the guy legitimately turned his life around. Everyone involved had a positive outcome. The inmate rightfully served time for his crimes, the state admitted and fully remedied an error of their own (We often complain about little accountability in the justice system, but here it is), and the inmate gets a second chance at life after showing that he can in fact contribute to society in a positive way. I hope that he makes the most of his second chance.
DustinoHeat on May 17th, 2017 at 13:52 UTC »
Glad to hear they did the right thing!
knumbknuts on May 17th, 2017 at 13:30 UTC »
It's gotta be hard to live an upstanding life after prison, with background searches being what they are. It seems as though moving companies hire a lot of ex cons. I twigged to this when my second cousin, an ex con, started a moving company.
They're fairly easy to spot, because they appear pretty tough, but are exceedingly polite, like the valet in Ferris Bueller's Day off.