Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot is blaming confusion over paperwork in his office for the early deportation of Nicolas Monarrez, an unlawful migrant who pleaded guilty in 2016 to a double murder.
Monarrez had been sent to federal prison in West Virginia on an unrelated drug conviction. He was supposed to serve 10 years there before being transferred to Texas to serve an additional 15 years for the murders of Luis Campos and Linoshka Torres — the latter of whom was pregnant.
After Monarrez served his first sentence, he was mistakenly deported back to Mexico, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons told WFAA it followed protocol by alerting county officials that Monarrez was going to be deported. When the Dallas County Sherriff’s Office was alerted, it did not respond in time to intervene.
“There were mistakes made with the initial disposition of the case in 2016 that were not noticed upon the subjects released from FCI in 2021. We continue to work with our criminal justice partners to improve our processes,” Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown said in a statement to WFAA.
Creuzot said mistakes in the paperwork contributed to the error.
“The assistant district attorney who filled out the plea paperwork just put federal sentence but didn’t put any details, so the judge didn’t put any details on the docket sheet, and the clerk didn’t put any details in the [judgment]. … We are going to make changes in our own process to make certain that doesn’t happen anymore,” said Creuzot, per WFAA.
While Creuzot was not the county’s district attorney at the time of the paperwork blunder, he has previously been criticized for allegedly letting criminals go free. For instance, his highly controversial theft “amnesty” policy drew scrutiny from critics who accused him of being soft on crime. Before reversing course, Creuzot’s office was not prosecuting suspects for thefts valued under $750, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“In this case, they helped this monster continue his life with his loved ones while Linoshka, Luis and their baby weren’t given a chance,” said Torres’ sister, Rachel, according to WFAA.
As of August 11, there have been 155 criminal homicides in Dallas in 2023, roughly 5% more than during the same period last year, according to a Dallas Police Department (DPD) report.
According to a City analysis, DPD needs about 900 officers to be considered adequately staffed. The analysis recommends a city the size of Dallas maintain a force of around 4,000 officers.
Crime has been increasing in parts of the city, especially in Downtown Dallas. Nearby cities like Fort Worth have deployed dedicated crime units in certain areas. Fort Worth’s downtown area has reportedly been logging much lower crime rates than Downtown Dallas.
“With this many eyes and ears on the street, people who are up to no good feel very uncomfortable,” said Andy Taft, president of Downtown Fort Worth Inc., WFAA reported.