As of Feb. 2nd 2000, INS has dropped deportation proceedings against Valerio because the conviction from 10 years ago was reopened and Valerio was given a lessor charge. When he had pleaded to the charge 10 years ago the courts failed to inform him he could be deported in the future. The new lessor charge is not a deportable charge.
The superintendent of the prison approved Valerio's appeal not to be sent to Dallas County Jail in Texas because he had an open case, the above case. He has since classified Valerio to stay at the prison he is at because he is now on the work force.
On May 19th 2000 we finally received the transcripts from trial. We can now work on getting Valerio out with an appeal. We will be filing for a bail hearing awaiting appeal also. There is a VERY good chance bail will be granted and Valerio will be able to come home. He will be on probation while he waits for his appeal.
On June 14th 2000 we filed a motion for bail bending appeal, on June 21st it was denied. The Judge did not give a reason for her denial except "that she was using her discretion and dening the motion." We will be appealing it. The appeal for the bail will be heard before a panal of 3 Judges this time instead of a single justice at the appeals court. Because of the first Judges lack of reason we still have a chance of winning this. This step takes a little bit more time then the original motion. It may take another 4 months for this to be decided.
In August 2000 Valerio was moved from a medium security prison to a minimum security prison. There he has more freedom then before as there are no walls, fences or barbed wire surrounding him, he is free to take walks around the prison, go outside as he pleases and the visits are more relaxed. It is not home but its a start.
In October 2000 Valerio's second bail pending appeal motion was denied...again without reason. We were not allowed to bring our case to the 3 judge panel as the appeals court in Mass is extremely backlogged, so we went to the SJC. A single justice heard our case and after a weeks time denied the bail stating "I am using my authority to deny this motion." Valerio will likely see parol before his appeal is done with. He will be eligible for a pre release in March of 2001.
In June of 2001 Valerio movied to a Pre Release center. Here he is able to go out into the community and go to work. He pays 10% of his paycheck to the DOC for room and board and is given $38 a week from his check to pay for transportation to and from work, to get a haircut, buy food and do laundry. The rest of his check is put into a savings account to be given to him when he released.On Dec. 3rd we were heard for oral arguements on the appeal. Now we must wait for a decision. The case was heard in front of a 3 Judge panel and a decision can take anywhere from a month to a year.Valerio was suppose to have a Parole hearing on Dec 3rd but the Parole board bumped him and everyone else due for a hearing to January. If the parole is granted, Valerio will be released around Feb 2nd 2002.On Feb 1st 2002 Valerio's parole ws denied by the parole board with a 2 to 1 vote. They gave gave the following reasons: 1. The Nature of the crime and 2. A "high risk to re-offend". Valerio will have been in for 3 years come this June. He has not received any disciplinary reports, has completed all of the counciling and "rehabilitation" programs they have imposed on him and he is currently at a pre release facility working a full time job at a warehouse in the community. There is no history to suggest he is a risk. We put in for an appeal and/or reconsideration of the parole. This was also denied.On Feb. 11th 2003, 1 year since his last parole hearing, Valerio went in front of the parole board again. His parole was granted! If all goes as planned, he will be out by the end of Feb. Finally this nightmare is coming to an end for us and we can begin to rebuild our lives. We will still continue to fight this injustice as Valerio's appeal is still awaiting decision. Valerio was released as of Feb 28th 2003! He was given parole until Nov of 2003. On Sept 2003, Valerio's appeal was denied by the appeals court. Although they stated they were concerned about how the confession came about, they did not feel the police over stepped their boundaries to obtain it. We are still fighting this and have brought the case to the highest court- the SJC. On Aug 16th, Valerio's conviction was reversed by the SJC! In a 4-3 vote, the court found that the police used trickery to obtain their confession and the confession contradicted the forensic evidence from the fire. They ruled that the Superior Court judge should have suppressed the confession from the very beginning. The case has been remanded back to the lower court for further proceedings. Book mark this site, I will be updating as events happen. Please keep us in your prayers.
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