Immigration status key in DUI case

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2004 | 9:42 a.m.

The immigration status of a man charged with crashing his car into a Las Vegas bus stop and killing a 4-year-old boy has prompted District Judge Joseph Bonaventure to reconsider his decision to lower the man's bail.

Bonaventure held a hearing on Tuesday to determine whether U.S. immigration authorities had placed a hold on Nicholas Serrano-Villagrana. If they had, then Serrano-Villagrana might be at risk of being deported.

Bonaventure said a major part of his decision to lower bail from $500,000 to $50,000 on Aug. 5 was because Serrano-Villagrana's attorney, Phillip Singer, "represented to me that he (Serrano-Villagrana) has no INS hold."

"Isn't this stupid? What's going on?" Bonaventure said. "We've got to get to the bottom of this. I don't like things like this hanging in the air."

Serrano-Villagrana is facing felony charges of drunken driving with death resulting in the crash that killed Angel Avendano and left his mother, Eulogia Avendano, 32, with two broken feet and other injuries.

Serrano-Villagrana is also charged with two counts of felony DUI with substantial bodily harm because a second woman, Nijailia Altitijka Graves, who was also waiting at the bus stop, suffered moderate injuries.

Singer was absent from the hearing Tuesday because a member of Bonaventure's staff forgot to contact him.

Singer said later Tuesday that although he was told there was no hold, after Serrano-Villagrana's family put a house up as collateral and paid cash to post bail on Friday someone from the Clark County Detention Center called the bail bondsman saying he could not be released due to an INS hold.

Singer said after spending the past four days trying to figure out where the hold came from, he believes a "random INS supervisor accidentally put the hold"on his client.

Singer said INS told him there "is a hold on Serrano-Villagrana, but he's not deportable."

Singer said he would appear today before Bonaventure with the head of the Hispanic Legal Group, the support group that is sponsoring Serrano-Villagrana's petition for citizenship.

Singer said in accordance with INS regulations, Serrano-Villagrana filled out his petition for citizenship in Las Vegas, which has been sent to San Francisco for review.

Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson said he wasn't aware of an INS hold on Serrano-Villagrana. Nelson said his real concern was whether Serrano-Villagrana would request to be deported if he made bail and was placed on house arrest. Nelson said if you're a non-citizen you can request to be deported.

Bonaventure lowered Serrano-Villagrana's bail after granting Nelson's request for a new trial date due to a key witness being in the midst of a high risk pregnancy.

Singer at that point had asked Bonaventure to revisit bail because the rescheduling of the trial violated Serrano-Villagrana's right to a speedy trial, adding that on June 23 Bonaventure refused to lower Serrano-Villagrana's bail largely on the fact he had invoked his right to a speedy trial and wouldn't be in custody for a long time.

The bail was lowered despite Nelson's argument that Serrano-Villagrana is a flight risk because he is not a U.S. citizen, has a prior DUI conviction and six times failed to appear in court on traffic warrants.

Serrano-Villagrana was convicted of a drunken driving charge in 2002 in North Las Vegas.