The New York City courts system is out with a statement alleging “serious factual errors” in an explosive New York Post article that claims a local judge allowed a violent criminal to escape from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The article in question was titled “ICE agents chase down migrant ‘sex predator’ after judge allows him to stroll out of NYC courthouse.” The story looked at the case of 45-year-old Gerardo Miguel Mora, who was deported in 2011 following allegations of rape and strangulation of a young woman, and who re-entered the country only to be arrested last month on a petty shoplifting offense. The Post article alleged that Democratic Judge Sheridan Jack-Browne let Mora “waltz out of the courtroom” with no precautions, leaving ICE to chase him down.
The article acknowledged that he could not be legally held on bail for a low-level shoplifting offense, but asserted the judge “would have had the federal arrest warrant” for his illegal re-entry into the United States.
According to a spokesperson from the Unified Court System, not only were several elements of this story false, but the Post was alerted to the inaccuracies and has doubled down on them.
“Judge Jack-Browne was not presented with any pending warrant for Mr. Mora, was not asked to hold him for any reason, and followed the law in every respect when handling his appearance,” said the statement. “Mr. Mora appeared at 100 Centre Street in response to a misdemeanor charge of petit larceny, which on its face would not have authorized the court to set bail or otherwise detain the defendant on the only matter before the court that day. After the prosecutor recommended supervised release and the defense did not object, the court so ordered it.”
Furthermore, the statement continued, “Judge Jack-Browne did not allow Mr. Mora to ‘flee through a back door’ and at no time was he ‘chased down outside.’ Mr. Mora walked out of Judge Jack-Browne’s courtroom at 12:55 p.m. and did not leave the courthouse until 1:47 p.m. He exited the courthouse through the public exit on Baxter Street, and security video from the exterior of the courthouse shows that he exited the courthouse in handcuffs and was accompanied by federal law enforcement personnel, who placed him in a vehicle.”
The statement added that the Post was alerted to all of these issues, and promised to correct the story, but as of Tuesday has not done so and even published a follow-up opinion piece based on the incorrect claims in the original article.
“UCS again contacted the Post, which has yet to provide an explanation for its insistence on standing by false information and its failure to adhere to its promise to correct its reporting,” the statement concluded.
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