CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A federal jury rejected a defense attorney’s suggestion that they could not be certain beyond a reasonable doubt that a San Luis Potosi, Mexico, migrant had previously been deported twice.
According to the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Texas, the defense argued that the amount of migrants being processed and deported should have cast doubt on the federal government’s history of the 34-year-old’s deportation records.
The jury was not convinced and found Laureano Mar-Peres guilty of illegal reentry after deportation, following 20 minutes of deliberation, the USAO stated.
Mar-Perez, from Tanlacut, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, was found by authorities in Kenedy County, trying to get around the US Border Patrol checkpoint near Sarita, the USAO said. At that time, he had already been deported twice, according to federal authorities.
The defense attempted to convince the jury that Mar-Peres might not be the same person who had been previously deported.
U.S. District Judge David Morales presided over the trial and set sentencing for Feb. 22, 2023.
Mar-Peres faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
