PA DUI attorneys are seeing an odd increase in accidental early releases from jail. More than one Pennsylvania DUI felon has been released earlier than his scheduled sentence, due to clerical error.
Emilio Sanchez, 33, was convicted in 2007 of being drunk behind the wheel of a truck, when he killed a man on Interstate 95. But due to a clerical error, Sanchez was not only released from prison before the end of his sentence; he was also deported to Mexico.
When Sanchez pleaded guilty to a charge of vehicular homicide while DUI back in March 2008, he received a sentence under a negotiated plea bargain, of a three to six year prison sentence.
The error?
The court clerk recorded it as a sentence of three to six months instead of years. As a result, Sanchez was released on April 3, 2008 and was removed from the United States later that month.
Although efforts were made to bring Sanchez back to Pennsylvania to serve the remainder of his prison term, he did not return to the United States. The current District Attorney, Seth Williams, investigated the issue of extradition for Sanchez only to determine that vehicular homicide is not an extraditable crime due to the lack of willfullness in the crime.
Unfortunately, in the other early parole case, the released inmate was marched back to prison.
William Halloran had early parole but was sent back to prison after a two-part hearing where the court examined the clerical mistake. Although his PA DUI attorneys made the argument that Halloran's time on accidental parole should be counted towards his prison sentence, the court declined to grant him such leniency.
Related Resources
- In 2nd such case, clerical foul-up freed an imprisoned killer (Philadelphia Daily News)
- Early DUI Release Time May Be Credited to Jail Term (FindLaw's Philadelphia DUI Law Blog)
- Parole (FindLaw's LawBrain)
- Find PA DUI Attorneys (FindLaw)
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