A drunk driving case has been settled for 43-year-old Raul Perez, an illegal immigrant to the U.S. who has been deported on two separate occasions before. However, as Kent County, Michigan District Court Judge Steven Timmers said to him when he appeared in court for an unrelated murder charge, “This is probably the least of your problems right now!”
According to Kent County court records, Perez is accused of murdering 31-year-old Karla Guadalupe Magana. Her body was found by police who were conducting a welfare check at the insistence of her daughter. Police say that Magana’s daughter contacted them because her father, Raul Perez, allegedly admitted to her on the phone that he had strangled her mother.
Police say that when they arrived, Perez was found asleep in the home. In his probable cause affidavit, Police Officer Bob Robinson wrote that “Perez contacted his daughter by phone and confessed to killing Magana. Police responded to Perez’ apartment and located Magana deceased. Perez was located in a bed sleeping.’’
Court records show that Perez had been arrested for drunk driving just days before the homicide occurred. Perez was observed driving erratically by local police officers in Kent County. He was pulled over and subjected to a sobriety test, which determined that he was over the legal limit. He was then jailed, but released the very next day. At the time of his release, law enforcement at the Kent County Jail say they were completely unaware of his illegal immigrant status.
That charge has now been resolved, as Perez was put on probation for one year and assessed $1,550 in fines and court costs. But as Judge Timmers said, this is of little concern when considered in the light of the murder charges that Perez is now facing and his history of deportations from the country.
Perez is facing life in prison for murder
Perez has been charged with Open Murder. In addition, he has also been charged as a habitual offender, as this is his third felony offense. Court records show that Perez was convicted in 2005 of illegal entry into the United States via Texas, and Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana (over 110 pounds.) He was sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison, after which time he was deported back to Mexico.
However, less than two weeks later, United States Border Patrol Agents arrested Perez again. This time he was charged with Being in The United States After a Previous Deportation. After serving his second sentence, Perez was once again deported back to Mexico. Recent court documents show that at the time of his DUI arrest in Michigan, he was driving with a Mexican driver’s license.
In addition to the life offense murder charge that Perez is facing for allegedly murdering the mother of his daughter, he is also being accused of witness intimidation. According to Kent County Assistant Prosecutor Jeffrey Kemperman, there have been “a number of concerning communications’’ between Perez’s relatives and family members of the victim.
Kemperman admitted that he wasn’t sure if the communications were made on Perez’s behalf, but did say that it is “walking a very fine line of witness intimidation.” As a result, Judge Timmers ordered Perez to have no contact with Magana’s family, whether directly or through others acting on his behalf.
If you have been charged with a crime in Michigan, whether it is murder, sex assault, drugs or drunk driving, we are here to help you. The defense attorneys at the Kronzek Firm have decades of experience defending those accused of crimes in Michigan. We can help you too. Call our main office 24/7 at 1 866-766-5245.