Families of 3 killed in DUI crash want deported suspect returned to U.S.
MIAMI - The families of three people killed during a DUI crash are now begging the court for justice after the man accused of the crime was deported before he could stand trial.
The families of Paola Sabillon, Gisselle Reyes and Jason Meza packed a Miami-Dade County Courtroom on Thursday.
They have a legal right under Marsy's Law to know when the suspect is being released from custody. Instead, no one knew Erwin Recinos Zuniga was deported to Honduras until Judge Laura Cruz was waiting for Zuniga to show up in court for a hearing leading to his upcoming trial. What they eventually got instead was a letter from the Miami-Dade Department of Corrections who released him.
"I'm the older sister of Paolo Sabillon," Miriam Castillo said. "She was my baby sister. She was only 19 years old when she stopped living. She had dreams. She wanted to have a family. She loved kids and all of that was taken away in one night, in one setting."
The crash that killed Sabillon was in March 2022. Five people were in a car riding along West Flagler Street and SW 48th Avenue in Miami when it crashed, and three of the passengers died.
In the early morning crash, Zuniga was driving a red four-door Kia Forte when he lost control and struck a light pole. The car came to a final rest at a nearby Valero gas station.
An electronic data recorder said he was going 78 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone at the time of the crash, according to police.
Police said then 26-year-old Zuniga was drunk and going twice the legal limit.
"They were human," Castillo said. "They were three lives. They're not animals."
Zuiga is no longer in Florida or even in the United States. He was deported to Honduras at the direction of a Miami-Dade Corrections officer who signed off on a release before he could stand trial and without notifying the court or the victims' families.
"Erwin Recinos Zuniga was an unlawfully present Honduran national who was removed Sept 6 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement," ICE said in a statement. "The removal was pursuant to a final order signed by an immigration judge from the Executive Office of Immigration Review Aug. 27.
Christine Zahralban with the State Attorney's office said: "The next of kin has a right to be heard on release from custody. That didn't happen."
Attorneys for the Department of Corrections and Zuniga were in court, saying the matter is under investigation.
The judge set a follow-up hearing in two months to get a status on the investigation.
CBS News Miami spoke with an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday afternoon and asked if the agency has plans to go get Zuniga. The official said it is their job to send illegal immigrants out of the country and not to bring them back.
CBS News Miami also called Zuniga late Thursday afternoon. When he was asked if he plans on returning to face the charges, he hung up.
State attorney Christine Zahralban told Cruz there is another case of a defendant to be released from the jail and handed off to immigration officials despite charges.
Cesar Julian Gonzalez Alvarado,19, also in the process of being deported and was sent to Louisiana awaiting to be brought back to his home country. He also didn't have a trial.
The state said because Alvarado was still in the United States he is now in the process of being returned to Miami. He is accused of sexual assault on a 12-year-old.