BBC Information, Washington
Harford Co Sheriff’s WorkplaceAn unlawful immigrant from El Salvador has been sentenced to life with out parole for killing an American mom of 5 – in a case invoked by President Donald Trump to assist his border safety crackdown.
Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was discovered responsible this yr within the rape and homicide of Rachel Morin, 37, on a climbing path in Bel Air, Maryland, in August 2023.
He assaulted her, bludgeoned her head with rocks and strangled her earlier than hiding her physique in a drainage culvert, the courtroom heard.
The killer was additionally linked to a 2023 residence invasion in Los Angeles and is needed in El Salvador for the homicide of one other lady, in accordance with prosecutors.
He confirmed little emotion as he discovered his destiny on Monday.
Decide Yolanda Curtin sentenced him to life for the first-degree homicide conviction, life for the rape cost, and an extra 40 years for a third-degree intercourse offence and kidnapping. He’ll serve your entire sentence in a Maryland jail.
He was arrested in June 2024 after a 10-month manhunt in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“Arguably, Harford County has by no means seen a case or a defendant extra deserving of each single day of the utmost sentences this courtroom imposed,” prosecutor Alison Healey stated exterior the courthouse.
In a victim-impact assertion earlier than the sentence was handed down, the sufferer’s mom, Patty Morin, stated: “The brutality of her homicide will hang-out us for the remainder of our lives.”
Voice recordings of Ms Morin’s kids, ranging in age from 9 to fifteen, had been performed for the courtroom.
In a message addressed to their mom, one of many kids stated: “Now I’ve to spend extra time with out you than I did with you.”
AFP by way of Getty PhotosRachel’s older brother, Michael Morin, advised the courtroom his Christian religion compelled him to supply the killer forgiveness.
In accordance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the killer illegally entered the US and was despatched again throughout the US-Mexico border 3 times in 2023.
Throughout final yr’s White Home election marketing campaign, Trump held up Ms Morin’s killing and different so-called angel households – these with family members who’ve been killed by unlawful immigrants – as he pledged to shut the US-Mexico border.
Most research point out undocumented immigrants will not be extra more likely to have interaction in criminality than Americans.
The Morin household has supported Trump’s marketing campaign for border safety.
Michael Morin addressed the Republican Nationwide Conference final summer time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“Open borders are sometimes portrayed as compassionate and virtuous, however there may be nothing compassionate about permitting violent criminals into our nation and robbing kids of their mom,” he stated.
In April, amid an escalating showdown between the president and the judiciary on immigration, the White Home invited Ms Morin’s mom to deal with a media briefing.
Patty Morin shared graphic particulars of her daughter’s dying.
