Judge reduces bail for illegal immigrant with criminal record charged in killing of Washington State Trooper

On Wednesday, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Okrent reduced Benitez Santana’s bail to $100,000, downfrom the $1 million bail he was being held on for vehicular assault and vehicular homicide involving alcohol or drugs.

Cammryn Gadd, widow of the trooper, objected to Benitez Santana’s release writing in a letter to the judge, “Reducing bail would not only undermine the severity of the crime but also inflict further anguish and distress upon me, our child, and the rest of our family.”

Attorneys for Raul Benitez Santana, 32, had requested that Okrent release their client from jail, claiming that despite his criminal record, including misdemeanors related to driving, he isn’t either a flight risk or a criminal risk to the community.

According to the Everett Herald, Benitez Santana’s lawyers are concerned that officers from the US Immigration and Naturalization Service may arrest Benitez Santana if he posted bail. Yet they claimed Benitez Santana was “not a flight risk” even though the Department of Homeland Security has placed an immigration detainer on him, seeking to deport him from the United States.

Despite Benitez Santana being an illegal immigrant from Mexico, his lawyers Emily Hancock and Tiffany Mecca said in court filings that he has lived in Washington for a long time. Hancock and Mecca said their client works as a mechanic, has three children, and doesn't have the money to post the $1 million bail.

Benitez Santana has been held at the Snohomish County Jail for allegedly killing 27-year-old Trooper Christopher Gadd near Marysville in March. Gadd Left behind a wife and 2-year-old daughter.

On March 2, Trooper Gadd was on patrol for speeders and DUI drivers on Interstate 5 near Marysville, WA when he was struck and killed in a three-vehicle crash at approximately 3 am in an impact so severe that Santana’s black SUV ricocheted into a white van in the fast lane after bouncing off the trooper’s vehicle.

According to investigators, Santana was driving south on I-5 at over 110 miles an hour on the shoulder while under the influence and slammed into the trooper’s parked patrol vehicle.

ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations) Seattle placed an immigration detainer with the Snohomish County Jail, WA on Benitez Santana because he is “unlawfully present in the US.”

According to an ICE spokesman Benitez Santana was “first encountered by ERO Seattle on Oct. 28, 2013, at the South Correctional Entity, Burien, WA, following his arrest for failure to appear for driving while license suspended,” and has multiple previous convictions for driving while his license was suspended or revoked, possession, and domestic violence assault.

In 2019, Washinton’s Democratic Governor Jay Inslee signed a law days before Santana’s domestic violence conviction making Washington a "sanctuary state," and restricting “the extent to which local law enforcement agencies (LEAs) may participate in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”

As a result, state and local authorities aren't able to question people about their immigration status except in limited cases. Additionally, local jails and state prisons aren’t required to comply with voluntary federal “immigration holds” or notify federal authorities when they are scheduled to release an illegal immigrant from custody.

In 2020, Washington Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson, now a candidate for governor, published model policies, guidance, and training recommendations based on the new law.