[News] Maria Suarez: Parolee's first taste of freedom

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Parolee's first taste of freedom
Onetime teen sex slave averts deportation
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/26/MNGFR6RT7C1.DTL

Maria Suarez, locked up the last two decades over the murder of an old man 
who bought her for $200 and used her as a teenage sex slave, walked to 
freedom in Southern California on Tuesday after years of campaigning by 
supporters who ranged from the cop who arrested her to a coalition of 
congressional representatives.

To the jubilation of her family and her legion of backers, Suarez headed 
for home, a light lunch and an afternoon nap, woozy and exhausted by her 
long confinement and anxiety over her future. She had spent the last few 
months in a federal detention facility on Terminal Island near Long Beach 
fighting deportation.

"Her mood lifted when she got home,'' said Max Blumenthal, a family friend 
who has worked for years to free Suarez. "She sat on the porch, and she 
kept saying, 'It's like a dream.' ''

Suarez, 44, was granted a special visa created in 2000 for victims of 
severe forms of "human trafficking,'' such as young girls who are smuggled 
into the United States and forced into prostitution. Altogether, 371 "T'' 
visas have been granted, said a spokesperson for Citizenship and 
Immigration Services.

"Clearly, she was a victim,'' said Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Monterey Park (Los 
Angeles County), who vigorously lobbied for Suarez's release. In the bid to 
free Suarez, a bipartisan letter signed by nearly three dozen members of 
Congress was sent to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, urging him to 
let Suarez to remain in the country.

"The public support was so strong, collectively, it all worked out, thank 
God,'' said Solis. "Two weeks ago, I visited her. She was so tired. It's 
horrible what happened to her, but I'm glad the laws were flexible enough 
to allow her to stay.''

When Suarez was 16, freshly arrived from a small town in Mexico, she was 
sold to a 68-year-old man, Anselmo Covarrubias, known by his neighbors in 
the Los Angeles suburb of Azusa as a brujo, a type of witch doctor.

For five years, Covarrubias raped Suarez and threatened her with black arts 
wizardry.

Fearful and superstitious, Suarez, a legal permanent resident with six 
years of formal schooling, told no one about the abuse.

On Aug. 27, 1981, Suarez said she woke to find Covarrubias in the backyard 
being beaten to death with a table leg by Pedro "Rene" Soto, who with his 
wife was renting a converted garage on the property.

Suarez later told investigators she did not intervene in the bludgeoning. 
After Covarrubias was dead, she said she washed the weapon as directed and 
hid it under the house. Not long after, she and the Sotos were arrested.

Convicted of first-degree murder, Suarez was sentenced to 25 years to life. 
Soto also was convicted of first-degree murder, and his wife was convicted 
of soliciting murder and being an accessory to a felony.

At her trial, Suarez was represented by Regis Possino, who had been placed 
on probation by the State Bar. Eventually, he was disbarred. He later 
became an advocate for her parole, telling prison officials that Suarez was 
doubly a victim -- initially of Covarrubias and then of "her own lawyer, 
whose representation fell far short of any of the legal or ethical 
requirements for such a case.''

Suarez also found an unlikely ally in the homicide detective who had helped 
put her behind bars. In Chronicle interviews, Stanley White, retired from 
the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, expressed sympathy for Suarez: 
"She's done more time than I think she would have gotten in this day and 
age.''

Suarez was convicted before California first began allowing -- in 1992 -- 
battered-woman syndrome as a legal defense.

Incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Corona (Riverside 
County), Suarez was by many accounts a model prisoner, earning her GED, 
contributing to various volunteer programs and expressing deep remorse.

Two years ago, the state Board of Prison Terms concluded that she suffered 
from "an extreme level'' of battered-woman syndrome and approved her for 
parole. The decision was overturned by then-Gov. Gray Davis.

In April 2003, Davis approved parole for her but delayed her release for 
almost another year.

After Davis was recalled, the parole board approved Suarez for earlier 
release. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declined to review the case, clearing 
the path for her release on Dec. 18. But after being freed from prison, 
Suarez was immediately taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement. According to federal law, noncitizens convicted of violent 
crimes must be deported upon their release.

In recent months, the campaign to free Suarez intensified. Among Suarez's 
supporters were Rhonda Findling, a guidance counselor at Santa Rosa Junior 
College, and Linda Kelley, mayor of Sebastopol. The women and other Suarez 
supporters lobbied immigration officials and state and federal legislators.

In April, an immigration judge ruled that Suarez must be deported. Suarez 
filed an appeal.

"I spoke with Maria last Sunday; she was at the bottom of the barrel,'' 
said Findling, a member of the Free Battered Women Coalition. "She was 
totally depressed, she couldn't eat because of the stress, and her back was 
killing her. She was as low as I'd ever heard her. She said, 'I'm losing my 
spirit.' I told her, 'You have to hang on.' ''

The next day, Suarez learned she'd been granted the special visa, which is 
issued for three years. After that, the individual can apply for permanent 
residency, said Sharon Rummery, regional public affairs manager for 
Citizenship and Immigration Services. After five additional years, the 
individual can apply for citizenship.

"I think it's incredible,'' said Kelley. "Justice was finally done.''

Upon her arrival at the home of her sister Rita Valencia, Suarez hovered in 
the kitchen, insisting on helping to cook, telling her happy family that 
she hadn't been allowed to cook for more than two decades. Valencia finally 
relented, allowing Suarez to warm up a plate of tortillas.

For Suarez's first night of freedom, her family planned a quiet get- 
together. A larger celebration is planned for the week's end.

"We are very, very, very excited,'' said Patricia Valencia, Suarez's niece 
who fought tirelessly to free her aunt. "Now we can have her home with us 
while we work on her legal case, on having the conviction overturned or 
lowered.''

E-mail Elizabeth Fernandez at 
<mailto:efernandez at sfchronicle.com>efernandez at sfchronicle.com.



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