Miller wooed her and wowed her. He also beat her, kept her away from her family and demanded to know her whereabouts at all times.
Then Miller botched his parole. Determined not to go back to a cell, he decided it was time to "breeze" — but not before he raised some cash, with the help of Perry and some other faltering parolees. They walked into people's houses, stuck gats in their faces and helped themselves to whatever money and vehicles they could find.
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Miller led his crew into the King Soopers and instructed Perry, wearing a black nylon stocking over her head, to fire three shots in the air from a .22 rifle. The failed robbery turned into a panic of shots, pistol-whipping and broken glass. Then Miller and Perry split for Kansas. When the Explorer crashed, Perry surrendered while Miller ran to a nearby house, took hostages, then shot himself in the head.
Perry cooperated with the police and agreed to testify against other defendants. She didn't injure any of the robbery victims. But facing enough charges to put her away for several lifetimes — twenty counts in the grocery store debacle alone — she entered plea deals that got her 26 years from a Denver judge and another 40 years, plus change, from Arapahoe County judges. A 2001 sentence reconsideration allowed the sentences to be served concurrently, trimming the overall time, but her attempts to get an appointed attorney for further appeals have been denied. She's had two minor disciplinary infractions in the decade she's been in prison.
"Tara knows she did wrong and destroyed a big part of her life," Perry's mother wrote to a judge in 2000, pleading for mercy. "If not for Mr. Miller and the others involved in these crimes, Tara would still be at home, going to school, and have a life ahead of her."
Estimated savings if released: $747,734
JACINTO PEREZ
Age: 28
Convicted of: Possession of contraband in a correctional facility
Sentence: 24 years
Mandatory Release Date: November 24, 2032
In the ranks of petty thieves and small-timers, Jacinto Perez may be one of the biggest losers. His crimes aren't remarkable or even interesting, but the resulting cost to him and to Colorado taxpayers almost defies comprehension.
In 2003, Perez, on probation for a drug charge, was caught rifling through someone else's car in downtown Denver. A few months later, he was busted after breaking into a small store and stealing three packs of cigarettes, valued at $8.25. He got six years for the burglary. A man of many aliases and a native of Mexico who had entered the country illegally, he was also scheduled to be deported upon completion of his sentence.
But while he was serving time at the Limon prison, a shank was found in his cell. Perez, who'd been moved to that cell only a few days earlier, admitted finding the knife in his mattress and failing to report it to the guards. A bad move all around — especially since the prison is situated in the Eighteenth Judicial District, where District Attorney Carol Chambers has sought astonishingly long habitual-criminal charges against chronic low-level offenders ("The Punisher," February 8, 2007).
Even in they're already in prison.
Even if they're about to be deported.
Perez was, in fact, on the verge of completing his sentence and being shipped back to Mexico by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when Chambers's office filed a fresh charge of contraband over the knife. The prosecution also sought to have him bitched as a three-time loser, which would require that he be given another 24 years — quadruple the usual sentence. That brought an angry protest from public defender Tom Ward.
"It just doesn't make sense to me," Ward said at one hearing. "How is that a good use of taxpayer money? To house someone who has three minor felony convictions, to house him for up to 24 years [at a cost of up to] $1.5 million when he simply will be deported right after that sentence?"
Judge William Sylvester thought Ward had a point. He initially sentenced Perez to eight years. The district attorney's office objected, and Sylvester recently relented and imposed the entire 24 years. That sentence is now under appeal.
Perez isn't eligible for clemency yet under the current rules. But he is symptomatic of a larger problem in the system. There are 1,324 offenders in the Colorado Department of Corrections who have detainers placed on them by ICE, costing the state close to $40 million a year to incarcerate them when they could be deported tomorrow. Some, of course, have committed numerous violent crimes that demand long sentences, and there's no guarantee they would not return to the state.
"Deportation provides no protection for the public," says District Attorney Chambers. "The only way to protect the public is to treat those who might be deported as we would anyone else."
But to date, no serious cost-benefit study has been done to determine which non-violent immigrant felons might be good candidates for a commutation that includes immediate deportation. It's possible that sending Perez and others like him out of the country could bring back to Colorado badly needed dollars — and sense.
Estimated savings if released: $661,457
