For every con who doesn't go to prison at all...

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**LordofHats**

There's apparently one who got out too early;

AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Rene Lima-Marin's wife told her two young sons their father had to go to work the night in January when a team of police 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 release in 2008 — 90 years too soon. Colorado authorities 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 error was captured on Thursday.

And in Colorado, an inmate mistakenly released four years early due to such a mistake killed the state's corrections chief at his front door last year. That prompted Gov. John Hickenlooper to order an audit of thousands of inmates' records to ensure they are serving the correct sentences. Lima-Marin wasn't part of the audit because it focused on other kinds of felonies, corrections department spokeswoman Adrienne Jacobson said.

Lima-Marin and another man were convicted in 2000 after robbing two Aurora video stores when Lima-Marin was 20. In one robbery, they ordered employees into a back room at gunpoint, and a worker was ordered to the floor as they demanded money from a safe.
View gallery
In this May 7, 2014 photo, Jasmine Lima-Marin talks …
In this May 7, 2014 photo, Jasmine Lima-Marin talks during an interview with The Associated Press ab …

A judge sentenced Lima-Marin to serve back-to-back sentences on eight convictions, for a total of 98 years. But a court clerk mistakenly wrote in his file that the sentences were to run at the same time. Corrections officials depend on that file to determine how much time an inmate should serve.

Lima-Marin was released on parole in 2008 after serving just eight years.

He set about building his life — while, prosecutors say, being fully aware of the clerical error and never notifying authorities.

Lima-Marin, now 35, started selling coupon books door-to-door, and more recently became skilled at cutting and installing windows. He reconnected with his former girlfriend, Jasmine Lima-Marin, and they married in July in a ceremony that also celebrated his completion of five years of parole. He was active in church and helped coach soccer.

Lima-Marin helped Jasmine raise her 7-year-old son, Justus. Soon, they had another boy, Josiah, who is now 4. Lima-Marin in prison for his birthday party.
View gallery
In this undated family photo provided by the Lima-Marin …
In this undated family photo provided by the Lima-Marin Family, Rene Lima Marin stands with his wife …

"That was his life, raising his kids and being a husband," Jasmine said. "He definitely was not the same person that he was when he went in to prison."

Lima-Marin's co-defendant, Michael Clifton, also would have been mistakenly released early, but the error in his file was uncovered 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 dismissed less than a year later. Prosecutors say that showed he was aware of the clerical error before his release and feared any further court action would call attention to it.

Rich Orman, an Arapahoe County senior deputy district attorney, said he was alerted to the error in January by a former prosecutor who handled Lima-Marin's case and was checking on its status. Orman quickly filed a motion to send Lima-Marin back to prison. A judge agreed.

"He should go back because the law requires the sentence he received. This was a number of very serious criminal offenses, and anything less would be inappropriate," Orman said. "He should not be able to escape the minimum sentence due to a clerical error."
View gallery
In this undated photo provided by the the Lima-Marin …
In this undated photo provided by the the Lima-Marin Family, Rene Lima-Marin jokes around with child …

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 Defender Doug Wilson did not return calls seeking comment. In April, a judge declined to release Lima-Marin at his public defender's request, noting that Lima-Marin knew he should have served 98 years but remained silent about the mistake.

The Associated Press reached out to Lima-Marin for comment but he has not responded.

"We don't have secrets. If he knew there was a mistake, he would have told me," Jasmine said. She said her husband did not try to mask his identity.

The prospect of Lima-Marin remaining imprisoned for nine more decades has devastated his family. They argue his clean life after prison shows he has been punished enough. Jasmine said they are considering another appeal and have reached out to the attorney involved in the recent Missouri case.

"He was given an opportunity to live again and it was taken away from him," Jasmine said.

http://news.yahoo.com/man-back-prison-90-years-court-error-060854921.html

Somehow 98 years for what he did seems so far beyond ludicrous I have a hard time even thinking if it's right for the state to send him back in the first place XD

**-Shrike-**

How do you get 98 years without killing, raping or mutilating someone? It sounds like his sentence was bs in the first place.

**KingCracker**

Or he's a repeat offender

**WarOne**

Or this is America and we have a prison quota to fill.

It's the new wave of American Penal Entertainment: thousands of Walking Dead Themed Resort Prisons.

**Chongara**

-Shrike- wrote:
How do you get 98 years without killing, raping or mutilating someone? It sounds like his sentence was bs in the first place.

Because unlike you we're not, wait for it...

SOFT ON CRIME

**daedalus**

This is pretty bad. They should reevaluate the situation as it stands now. Something about the "He should go back because the law requires the sentence he received." comment really bugs me too. Something about it seems very brain-dead Imperium-like, but not in a good way.

Chongara wrote:

SOFT ON CRIME

.aaaaand the circle is complete.

**scarletsquig**

98 years for armed robbery is insane if no-one was injured.

If he has been out for 5 years and has clearly reformed himself as a dedicated husband, active with helping out at church etc. in that time I can see no reason why he shouldn't be free.

6 years for theft alone is enough.

If he had injured or killed anyone though, get back in the cells. The victim would have to live with their injuries, or a family with their grief, and in that case, no criminal should be allowed to enjoy a fully healthy freedom.

A lot depends on the details, here.

**squidhills**

Wow... this one is kinda tricky. I mean, he got out early, he knows he got out early, and he knows he should be in there for another nintey years... but...

NINETY YEARS for two armed robberies where no-one was injured or killed?

The guy has done a decent job of walking the straight and narrow for the last five years, so he seems to be fairly well rehabilitated. Maybe he should serve some time for exploiting what he knew was a clerical error, but NINETY YEARS?! The punishment should fit the crime and I see no indication that it does. I would be surprised if there wasn't at least one lawyer willing to fight that sentence as 'cruel and unusal' for him.

**hotsauceman1**

It could be that it is multiple accounts to be served consecutive.
This is something I always wondered, Why tell them their father is going to work? My cousin did the same thing for their kids. Tell them the truth, their father did something wrong and has to pay for it.

**nkelsch**

Suspicious sentence is suspicious...

There is never a black or white solution... which is why I hate zero tolerance views of stuff.

If there are no 'victims' and the goal of prison is to rehabilitate... why can't they just handle it with an extended probation? He is on notice, and will have a probation officer, and if he deviates, to prison he goes. Regardless of why he is out, it does sound like probation is a much better solution than pointless re-incarceration for punitive reasons, especially if there is no 'interested parties' like a murdered victim.

Prison is a broken system right now and doesn't help people so I am skeptical when there are stories about people who 'bootstrapped' themselves to be functioning members of society and then 'whooops prison' comes along to destroy that. I feel like we have tools like half-way houses and probation to deal with those people.

And it is so discretionary, judges and throw time served and probation with total latitude however they want... so to act like some 'letter of the law' is forcing gak is often absurd.

**hotsauceman1**

nkelsch wrote:

If there are no 'victims' and the goal of prison is to rehabilitate... why can't they just handle it with an extended probation? He is on notice, and will have a probation officer, and if he deviates, to prison he goes. Regardless of why he is out, it does sound like probation is a much better solution than pointless re-incarceration for punitive reasons, especially if there is no 'interested parties' like a murdered victim.

You had me there, The system is meant to rehabilitate, HAHAHA

**nkelsch**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
nkelsch wrote:

If there are no 'victims' and the goal of prison is to rehabilitate... why can't they just handle it with an extended probation? He is on notice, and will have a probation officer, and if he deviates, to prison he goes. Regardless of why he is out, it does sound like probation is a much better solution than pointless re-incarceration for punitive reasons, especially if there is no 'interested parties' like a murdered victim.

You had me there, The system is meant to rehabilitate, HAHAHA

That is what the IF is there for... IF the actual goal is to rehabilitate and not simply incarcerate minorities for profit...

**djones520**

For everyone crying about the convict here spending the rest of his life in prison...

He was found guilty on 8 different counts. He robbed two stores, at gun point. Furthermore, he was aware of the error that resulted in his release, and took advantage of it, even going so far as to cancel an appeal to make sure the error wasn't discovered.

This is the type of guy we want behind bars.

**nkelsch**

djones520 wrote:
For everyone crying about the convict here spending the rest of his life in prison...

He was found guilty on 8 different counts. He robbed two stores, at gun point. Furthermore, he was aware of the error that resulted in his release, and took advantage of it, even going so far as to cancel an appeal to make sure the error wasn't discovered.

This is the type of guy we want behind bars.

He did do 8 years in prison... 98 years is suspect. And when murderers are getting 2 years with lots of probation, I am dubious that prison is an appropriate place or 98 years was an appropriate sentence.

He has been on parole since 2008 and seemed to be a functioning member of society... So what purpose does sending him back to jail serve? Seems like Prison worked and the sentence was improper. It is pretty common for people to not serve anywhere close to their sentence as long as parole goes well.

**Hordini**

djones520 wrote:
For everyone crying about the convict here spending the rest of his life in prison...

He was found guilty on 8 different counts. He robbed two stores, at gun point. Furthermore, he was aware of the error that resulted in his release, and took advantage of it, even going so far as to cancel an appeal to make sure the error wasn't discovered.

This is the type of guy we want behind bars.

I'm not convinced.

8 different counts of what, I wonder? I know armed robbery, but I wonder what the others were. Part of the problem with our legal system is that whenever someone does something, they throw as many possible charges at them as possible just to see what sticks. I don't see why anyone should be serving what is effectively a life sentence for two robberies in which no one was hurt or killed. I think you could justify 10, 15, maybe even 20 years under certain circumstances. But there are also convicts who have raped and murdered people who don't get that many years, and when you look at it in that light, 98 years starts to look kind of ridiculous. Especially when plenty of convicts get to serve their sentences concurrently rather than back to back, but for some reason he wasn't allowed that either.

In addition, if he's been out of prison and hasn't re-offended, you can't ask for much more proof that he's been rehabilitated. The US has a pretty high recidivism rate, and anyone who gets out and is able to legitimately turn their life around probably isn't someone we should go out of our way to throw back in prison. And at the end of the day, whether he knew about it or not, the clerical error wasn't his fault, and he shouldn't be punished for it.

Maybe he'll have a chance to get out early on an appeal.

**Overlord Thraka**

Personally I think he should be free. He's reformed himself nicely and is involved in the church.

And like others above me, 98 years for armed robbery when no one was injured at all? Complete and utter bullgak.

**LordofHats**

Especially when murder only gets you 20-30 in most states. 98 years seems preposterously excessive.

**nkelsch**

http://www.colorado-criminal-defense-attorney.com/criminal_court/sentencing_calculator.html

So class 3 or 4 Felony... let's take the worse one:
Min:4 years prison
Max:12 yrs prison

So 8 * 12 is 96, and he got 98? Absurd much?

He did 8, which is well above the min, and did 6 years of probation so far and has been clean. I think he has a great appeal on the wrong sentencing in the first place and has a great argument that he served his time appropriately.

The issue is if you rob a 7-11 with 8 people in it, and aggressive DA will try to scare you with 8 charges due to the people there. often these people are under-represented and
get screwed because they are poor and have no way to navigate it. If he was rich with a good lawyer, you know for a fact he would have gotten concurrent sentences and early probation.

We don't have all the info, but I am willing to let other people who will probably look out for this fellows rights take care of it, but my reaction is skepticism that it does anyone any good to put him in jail or that his original sentence was fair at all.

**Chongara**

djones520 wrote:
For everyone crying about the convict here spending the rest of his life in prison...

He was found guilty on 8 different counts. He robbed two stores, at gun point. Furthermore, he was aware of the error that resulted in his release, and took advantage of it, even going so far as to cancel an appeal to make sure the error wasn't discovered.

This is the type of guy we want behind bars.

Thank you. Somebody who finally understands what our real properties should be!

nkelsch wrote:
http://www.colorado-criminal-defense-attorney.com/criminal_court/sentencing_calculator.html

So class 3 or 4 Felony... let's take the worse one:
Min:4 years prison
Max:12 yrs prison

So 8 * 12 is 96, and he got 98? Absurd much?

He did 8, which is well above the min, and did 6 years of probation so far and has been clean. I think he has a great appeal on the wrong sentencing in the first place and has a great argument that he served his time appropriately.

The issue is if you rob a 7-11 with 8 people in it, and aggressive DA will try to scare you with 8 charges due to the people there. often these people are under-represented and
get screwed because they are poor and have no way to navigate it. If he was rich with a good lawyer, you know for a fact he would have gotten concurrent sentences and early probation.

We don't have all the info, but I am willing to let other people who will probably look out for this fellows rights take care of it, but my reaction is skepticism that it does anyone any good to put him in jail or that his original sentence was fair at all.

Why do you want innocent children to die?

Overlord Thraka wrote:
Personally I think he should be free. He's reformed himself nicely and is involved in the church.

And like others above me, 98 years for armed robbery when no one was injured at all? Complete and utter bullgak.

How come you hate people being safe?

LordofHats wrote:
Especially when murder only gets you 20-30 in most states. 98 years seems preposterously excessive.

Why do you care more about criminals than families?

**LordofHats**

The issue looks like he was given consecutive sentences instead of concurrent resulting in something utterly ridiculous. It's completely legal as far as I know but this sounds like

Hard on Crime

bs that should probably be fixed. His crimes don't warrant a century long prison term.

**Chongara**

LordofHats wrote:
The issue looks like he was given consecutive sentences instead of concurrent resulting in something utterly ridiculous. It's completely legal as far as I know but this sounds like Hard on Crime bs that should probably be fixed. His crimes don't warrant a century long prison term.

Why do you want crime to pay? Why can't you be more like these fine folks?

**scarletsquig**

^ Not sure if serious or deliberate OTT sarcasm.

**Platuan4th**

I have a question(CAUSE I'M LAZY): was he convicted of all 8 in the same trial and has he ever been convicted before?

I only ask because Colorado has a 3-Strikes Law.

**Chongara**

Platuan4th wrote:
I have a question(CAUSE I'M LAZY): was he convicted of all 8 in the same trial and has he ever been convicted before?

I only ask because Colorado has a 3-Strikes Law.

That's two too many strikes to me.

**whembly**

Chongara wrote:
Platuan4th wrote:
I have a question(CAUSE I'M LAZY): was he convicted of all 8 in the same trial and has he ever been convicted before?

I only ask because Colorado has a 3-Strikes Law.

That's two too many strikes to me.

wut?

I bet Colorado is one of those states with for-profit private prisons.

**Platuan4th**

whembly wrote:
Chongara wrote:
Platuan4th wrote:
I have a question(CAUSE I'M LAZY): was he convicted of all 8 in the same trial and has he ever been convicted before?

I only ask because Colorado has a 3-Strikes Law.

That's two too many strikes to me.

wut?

Chongara believes all felonies should get life in prison first time, duh.

In fact, forget that, just start throwing people in prison. They'll break the law eventually, we need to be proactive about crime!

**squidhills**

scarletsquig wrote:
^ Not sure if serious or deliberate OTT sarcasm.

Its sarcasm.

**Chongara**

whembly wrote:

I bet Colorado is one of those states with for-profit private prisons.

I'm so sorry you hate the fact that the free market has perfectly optimized justice just like it does everything else, komrade.

Platuan4th wrote:

Chongara believes all felonies should get life in prison first time, duh.

You break the law, the law breaks you.Justice must be swift and come down hard,like our majestic national bird.

**dementedwombat**

nkelsch wrote:
hotsauceman1 wrote:
nkelsch wrote:

If there are no 'victims' and the goal of prison is to rehabilitate... why can't they just handle it with an extended probation? He is on notice, and will have a probation officer, and if he deviates, to prison he goes. Regardless of why he is out, it does sound like probation is a much better solution than pointless re-incarceration for punitive reasons, especially if there is no 'interested parties' like a murdered victim.

You had me there, The system is meant to rehabilitate, HAHAHA

That is what the IF is there for... IF the actual goal is to rehabilitate and not simply incarcerate minorities for profit...

Their goal isn't to incarcerate minorities for profit. It's to incarcerate everyone for profit. Heck, prison guards gotta eat too.

**Chongara**

dementedwombat wrote:
nkelsch wrote:
hotsauceman1 wrote:
nkelsch wrote:

If there are no 'victims' and the goal of prison is to rehabilitate... why can't they just handle it with an extended probation? He is on notice, and will have a probation officer, and if he deviates, to prison he goes. Regardless of why he is out, it does sound like probation is a much better solution than pointless re-incarceration for punitive reasons, especially if there is no 'interested parties' like a murdered victim.

You had me there, The system is meant to rehabilitate, HAHAHA

That is what the IF is there for... IF the actual goal is to rehabilitate and not simply incarcerate minorities for profit...
Their goal isn't to incarcerate minorities for profit. It's to incarcerate everyone for profit. Heck, prison guards gotta eat too.

This is how miraculously efficient our system is. They're not even trying to put proportionally huge portions of black men prison, but still doing gangbusters at it. Just imagine how fewer problems we'd have if we had our justice system not-try at those too!