In a Sanctuary City, An Illegal Immigrant Gets the Death Penalty

Areli Carbajal Escobar, a violent 32-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, had a long rap sheet. Over the years in the sanctuary city of Austin, Texas, police and prosecutors had many contacts with him.

Now, immigration problems are the least of Escobar's worries. Last week, a Travis County jury sentenced him to death for the brutal rape and murder of a high school honor student.

Texas may lead the nation for executions, but most condemned murderers aren't from Austin, the capital, and surrounding Travis County -- for both are enclaves of liberal Democrats in an otherwise red state. In Travis County, murderers aren't often sentenced to death.

But an exception was made for Escobar -- given the brutality of his crime, lack of remorse, and long criminal history. As a reader of the Austin American-Statesman observed in an online comment: "When a latte-sipping, Volvo-driving, NPR-listening Travis County jury straps you down, you know you've earned it!"

The trial of Areli Carbajal Escobar captivated Austin and provided a glimpse into the world of sanctuary cities and illegal immigration. According to court testimony, he was born in Central Mexico to poor and illiterate parents; when he was six his father immigrated illegally with him to Texas. But Escobar didn't grow up to be a poster child for the DREAM Act. A gang member, he was fond of beating up and terrorizing women, including his wife -- facts known to Austin's police. In one incident, he shoved a friend of his wife's against a wall and held a screw driver against her neck. He was involved in organized crime relating to car burglaries and had a long list of other offenses: drunk driving, driving with a suspended license, and other such offenses.

Key quote->Escobar's loyal family members who called him a good man. "To me, he's the most wonderful person in the world," said Escobar's 21-year-old sister Nancy. Another link -Meanwhile, around noon, the girlfriend - still apparently unaware of what had happened - asked her boyfriend's sister through a text message if she'd found out what happened, documents say.

The sister responded that "she spoke with (her boyfriend) and Areli told him that he 'F-ed up.'"

Her text said to the girlfriend said "the blood was sum (sic) girls and not his. My mom already washed his clothes 2x and she still cant (sic) get all the blood off. She said his clothes had tons of blood on it. Gosh idk (I don't know) what he did."

Police said they also found Maldonado's purse in a sink in her apartment, with the contents of her wallet missing.

Officers found Escobar at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and said he had a large cut on the back of his hand, bruises, and scratches on his face and elbow. The injuries "appeared fresh, and were consistent with the injuries occurring a couple of days earlier."

Police said the victim had injuries that indicated she was raped as well as stabbed, and they have recovered an "instrument" they believe may have been used in the stabbing.

One woman who said she once dated the suspect defended him."I don't believe it," said Catherine Garza, the suspect's ex-girlfriend. "Because we were together for 4 or 5 months, and (he) was not aggressive. He was always a good person. And I think it's a lie. I don't believe it. "

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/crime/Suspect_arrested_in_weekend_killing

Something to consider. I remember, back when NYC was a cesspool, and crime was rampant, before Guiliani cleaned it up, even Jesse Jackson once said that if he, a black man, was walkign the streets of Harlem and saw three young punks, he’d be scared. Much then was written about “black on black” crime. Yet in all the discussions about illegal immigration, I’ve never seen any stats on “brown on brown” crime...I’d be curious..

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