Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/310107
BySadieGurman The Associated Press AURORA,COLO. ReneLima- Marin's wife told her two young sons their father had to go to work the night in January when a team of po- lice officers led her husband away in handcuffs. It had been nearly six years since he left prison, and his family believed he had paid his debt to society. But Lima-Marin should have stayed behind bars for the rest of his life. A court clerk's error led to his re- lease in 2008 — 90 years too soon. Colorado author- ities did not discover the mistake until January and immediately sent him back to prison to serve the rest of his 98-year sentence for armed robbery. Lima-Marin's case comes as other clerical errors have let criminals evade prison time. In Missouri, a judge this week freed a convicted robber who didn't report to prison — despite trying to do so — for 13 years because of a clerical mistake. A Los Angeles murder suspect who was accidentally freed last year due to a clerk's er- ror was captured on Thurs- day. And in Colorado, an in- mate mistakenly released four years early due to such a mistake is suspected of killing the state's correc- tions chief at his front door last year. That prompted Gov. John Hickenlooper to order an audit of thou- sands of inmates' records to ensure they are serv- ing the correct sentences. Lima-Marin wasn't part of the audit because it focused on other kinds of felonies, corrections department spokeswoman Adrienne Ja- cobson said. Lima-Marin and another man were convicted in 2000 on multiple robbery, kidnap- ping and burglary charges in connection with two vi- olent robberies of Aurora video stores when Lima- Marin was 20. In one as- sault, the pair ordered em- ployees into a back room at gunpoint and another worker to the floor as they demanded money from a safe. A judge sentenced Lima- Marin to serve back-to-back sentences on eight convic- tions, for a total of 98 years. But a court clerk mistakenly wrote in his file that the sen- tences were to run at the same time. Corrections of- ficials depend on that file to determine how much time an inmate should serve. Lima-Marin was released on parole in 2008 after serv- ing just eight years. He set about building his life — while, prosecutors say, being fully aware of the clerical error and never no- tifying authorities. Lima-Marin, now 35, started selling coupon books door-to-door, and more re- cently became skilled at cutting and installing win- dows. He reconnected with his former girlfriend, Jas- mine Lima-Marin, and they married in July in a cere- mony that also celebrated his completion of five years of parole. He was active in church and helped coach soccer. Lima-Marin helped Jas- mine raise her 7-year-old son, Justus. Soon, they had another boy, Josiah, who is now 4. Lima-Marin was in prison for his birthday party. "That was his life, rais- ing his kids and being a hus- band," Jasmine said. "He definitely was not the same person that he was when he went in to prison." Lima-Marin's co-defen- dant, Michael Clifton, also would have been mistak- enly released early, but the error in his file was uncov- ered after he filed an appeal in his case. Clifton is serving 98 years in prison. Lima-Marin filed his own appeal in 2000 but, in a rare move, asked that it be dis- missed less than a year later. Prosecutors say that showed he was aware of the clerical error before his re- lease and feared any fur- ther court action would call attention to it. Rich Orman, an Arap- ahoe County senior dep- uty district attorney, said he was alerted to the er- ror in January by a former prosecutor who handled Lima-Marin's case and was checking on its status. Or- man quickly filed a motion to send Lima-Marin back to prison. A judge agreed. "He should go back be- cause the law requires the sentence he received. This was a number of very seri- ous criminal offenses, and anything less would be inap- propriate," Orman said. "He should not be able to escape the minimum sentence due to a clerical error." Good behavior outside prison is not a consideration in cases involving people re- leased improperly due to hu- man error. Jacobson, with the state corrections department, said it was the court that made the mistake and prison officials would not have known Lima-Marin was released incorrectly. Colorado State Public De- fender Doug Wilson did not return calls seeking com- ment. In April, a judge de- clined to release Lima- Marin at his public defend- er's request, noting that Lima-Marin knew he should have served 98 years but re- mained silent about the mis- take. "We don't have secrets. If he knew there was a mis- take, he would have told me," Jasmine said. She said her husband did not try to mask his identity. The prospect of Lima- Marin remaining impris- oned for nine more decades has devastated his family. They argue his clean life after prison shows he has been punished enough. Jas- mine said they are consider- ing another appeal and have reached out to the attorney involved in the recent Mis- souri case. JUSTICE Manbackinprisonfor90yearsa ererror LIMA-MARINFAMILY—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Rene Lima Marin stands with his wife Jasmine and children Justus, 7, and Josiah, 4, at their home in Aurora, Colo. By Steve Szkotak The Associated Press RICHMOND, VA. The Vir- ginia Military Institute and the Obama administration announced an agreement Friday to address what the government called a sexu- ally hostile environment for female cadets on the Lexing- ton campus. The Education Depart- ment's Office of Civil Rights said the state school also failed to provide prompt and equitable resolution of com- plaints of sexual harassment and assault. VMI said it agreed, with reservations, to sign the agreement, stating many of the issues raised by the gov- ernment had already been instituted at the school. VMI said in a statement that it was in its best interest to "put an end to this six-year investigation." Title IX of the Civil Rights Act prohibits gender dis- crimination at schools that receive federal funds. The department said itne- gotiated revisions to VMI's marriage and parenthood policy, which had required a pregnant cadet to resign or leave the school. Under the revised policy, effective last month, VMI now allows ca- dets who become pregnant, or have a child, to continue their education. It also says the college agreed to implement a new policy on handling sexual-as- sault cases. "All members of the VMI community must be able to live, study and work in a safe environment," Catherine E. Lhamon, the department's assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. In a statement, VMI said it had strived during the in- vestigation to put in place many of the measures called for by the resolution. The col- lege said it was "profoundly disappointed" with the de- partment's findings. "We are committed to moving forward to do all in our power to ensure the safety and well-being of our cadets and employees," the statement concluded. The Education Depart- ment said VMI agreed to ini- tiate or continue programs aimed at ending sex discrim- ination. They include: • A unified policy on sex- ual harassment and sexual assault. • Submitting to the de- partment for review all sex- ual-harassment and sex- ual-assault complaints, plus investigative files and find- ings, for the 2014-15 aca- demic year. • Annual assessments of the climate for cadets, fac- ulty and staff concerning sexual harassment and sex- ual assault. • Annual training of ca- dets, faculty and staff on identifying and reporting sexual harassment and sex- ual assault. This also in- cludes mandatory group ses- sions for cadets on sexual as- sault. The department's civil rights office said it would monitor VMI to ensure that the policy changes are fully implemented. EDUCATION Fe ds : VM I engaged in sex bias By Kimberly Hefling The Associated Press WASHINGTON Creators of the Common Applica- tion for college admissions said Friday they have made changes that should pre- vent snags that had the high school class of 2014 tweeting horror stories. The Common Applica- tion is accepted by more than 500 colleges and uni- versities and allows stu- dents to apply to multiple schools at once, but it had a rough applications season after new technology was rolled out last year that created many headaches. About 750,000 students submitted 3.3 million ap- plications last year. Officials said they've hired a new interim chief executive officer, con- ducted a review of what went wrong and put inter- nal checks in place. "Given the year we just had, we can't be compla- cent about any of this," Eric Furda, the dean of admissions at the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, said during a media briefing. Furda is president-elect of the board of the not-for- profit Common Application membership organization. Commonproblems The most common prob- lems experienced by stu- dents were related to es- say formatting, difficulty submitting an application and the inability to deter- mine if they had paid ap- plication fees, Furda said. Higher education institu- tions complained about not being able to pull up docu- ments that had been sub- mitted. Because of the problems, many colleges and univer- sities extended applica- tion deadlines, and some began accepting applica- tions from competing pro- grams. Furda said most of the problems were corrected by the end of 2013, but challenges persisted. A review that was con- ducted by an outside firm determined that the tech- nology had been rolled out without first being prop- erly tested. Common Application's new interim chief execu- tive officer is Paul Mott, who has a college admis- sions background but also served as president of a professional basketball team. EDUCATION Common Application for admissions makes some changes a er tough year By Philip Elliott The Associated Press MEMPHIS, TENN. Lung- ing for control of the GOP ahead of high-stakes elec- tions, the Republican Na- tional Committee on Fri- day took steps to end free- for-all presidential debates and vowed to punish poten- tial contenders who partici- pate in rogue forums. At the same time, an in- dependent organization with deep ties to the con- servative Koch brothers has elected to spend $125 million on the battle for control of the Senate this fall, giving the 168-mem- ber central party meeting a stark reminder that out- side groups will have signif- icant sway over Republican political fortunes through the 2016 presidential race. "At the RNC, we cannot control everything in pol- itics. But we have an im- portant mission, and we're going to get the job done," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said on Friday. As he spoke, reports cir- culated that Americans for Prosperity plans to esca- late its television advertis- ing, improve voter data col- lection and strengthen its 31-state ground operation. The struggle to mend a party split between populist and establishment factions has hung over the meeting in Memphis, with RNC of- ficials looking for ways to make it harder for weak but vocal candidates to pro- long nomination fights, roil debates and jeopardize the party's chances — again — of winning the Senate ma- jority and the presidency. POLITICS RNC changes debate rules for 2016 election Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 527-2151 to find out how. ThroughtheNewspapersinEducation program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. • DOLLING INSURANCE • GUMM'S OPTICAL SHOPPE • HOOKER CREEK INC. • CALIFORNIA WALNUT COMPANY • LEPAGE COMPANY INC. • MODERN CLEANERS • OLIVE CITY QUICK LUBE • WALMART • TEHAMA CO. DEPT. 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