An attorney for the Haitian national charged last year with raping a 15-year-old “disabled” girl at a Rockland migrant hotel says the courts are in the wrong for raising the defendant’s bail to $150,000 based on a deportation order.
Attorney Brian A. Kelley argued that judges at a lower court and the state’s highest court didn’t have the right to factor in Cory Alvarez’s imminent deportation order last fall with his increased bail from an initial $500.
Brockton Superior Court Judge Elaine Buckley upped Alvarez’s bail to $150,000 last October, finding that the strength of the case combined with “the defendant’s lack of ties to the community and his flight risk” warranted the significantly higher figure.
SJC Justice Serge Georges Jr. shot down Kelley’s initial appeal of the higher bail in a single justice session a month later, ruling that Buckley “did not abuse her discretion in determining that this high amount is necessary to assure the defendant’s appearance at trial.”
The higher bail was set due to the prosecution’s fears that ICE would deport Alvarez, subject to an imminent deportation order, before the accused rapist could be convicted for his crimes.
Kelley argued in front of the SJC on Wednesday that deportation is “not an enumerated factor for judges to consider” in setting bail, tying his stance to what he said was legal statute.
“We know that deportation has been an issue,” Kelley said. “It’s not as if the Legislature is not aware of this. If they wanted to make that a consideration, they certainly could have … but they chose not to. That seems to me a glaring omission in the statute.”
The defense attorney added that this case “bothers” him because “it is completely out of Alvarez’s hands.” Kelley said the defendant didn’t violate the conditions of his release, which he argued typically triggers increases in bail.
Prosecutors have called the defendant’s “reliance” on the fact that the statute does not explicitly list “deportation” in bail consideration as “wholly misplaced.”
“The bail statute does not require the strict adherence to an exclusive elemental list of factors,” Plymouth County First Assistant District Attorney John P. Zanini wrote in a March briefing. “Although it does direct the judge to consider certain factors, it does not preclude other relevant facts from informing the Court’s decision.”
He added: “The fact that the statute allows for a higher than affordable bail to be set … reinforces and makes clear that the primary purpose of the statute is to assure a defendant’s presence for trial.
Alvarez is said to have entered the country “lawfully” in June 2023 through a Biden administration humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, but he had since violated the terms of his admittance.
The defendant is accused of raping a teen girl who police described in a report as “disabled,” but did not specify any specific disability. He has pleaded not guilty.
Alvarez and the alleged victim both lived at the Comfort Inn at 850 Hingham St. in Rockland, which had been converted to a migrant housing facility that operated under both state and federal programs, according to prosecutors.
In the briefing filed in March, Zanini highlighted Alvarez “moved yet again” after posting bail. Deportation officers arrested Alvarez last August “near his residence in Brockton” after a Plymouth court did not honor a federal immigration detainer
The prosecutor said Wednesday that Alvarez will be transferred from state to federal custody at the end of the case.
“The United States government can go pick up Mr. Alvarez, take him into custody, and remove him anytime they want, and they have not,” Zanini said. “They have not because they’re respecting … our custody so that we can proceed with our trial.”
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