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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So, did they just not have enough evidence to try him in previous cases? Trying to put politics aside and figure out reasoning for dropping all previous charges/cases.[/quote]

They were BS reasons.  And, the fact that he was present illegally should have been enough to get him deported after his first crime.  
There is no good reason for him to be walking free.  None.

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (7News) — Why did Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano stop prosecuting Marvin Morales Ortez for first-degree murder, which allowed him to walk free and allegedly kill another person this week in Reston, Virginia?

Before Marvin Morales Ortez allegedly shot and killed someone in Reston on Wednesday, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney dropped a first-degree murder charge Ortez was facing in the 2019 murder of Jose Lorenzo Guillen Mejia, also in Reston. It’s one of several charges Descano’s office dropped against Ortez, a man who is in the U.S. illegally and is allegedly an MS-13 gang member.

On Thursday, Descano’s office told 7News they dropped the 2019 murder charge because it became “clear that he was ultimately not the perpetrator who had killed Mr. Guillen Mejia,” adding that a federal court convicted someone else for the crime.

But that doesn’t mean Ortez wasn’t involved.

7News Reporter Nick Minock obtained a 140-page transcript of the 2021 preliminary hearing. It shows Descano’s office argued in court in 2021 that Ortez confessed that he was present during the murder, that he was with a few other people, that he ambushed the victim on a path, and that he struck the victim three times with a machete.

The detective said the autopsy showed three strikes in the victim’s body consistent with the manner Ortez demonstrated.

Detectives said the machete wounds cut deep into the victim’s body.

Descano’s prosecutor at the time said there were a number of facts listed by Ortez in an interview with detectives that only someone who was there would know, like the types and calibers of weapons used, the number of cut wounds, the victim’s clothes, and where it happened.

The judge agreed with detectives and the prosecutor at the time that there was probable cause in the 2019 murder, but Descano’s office dropped the charge anyway.

“Steve Descano messed something up, and this guy walked the streets and this latest victim is a completely preventable tragedy,” said Sean Kennedy, the President of Virginians for Safe Communities.

Kennedy said Descano’s office has a long, documented history of dropping felonies against people who go on to commit additional alleged crimes,

“There has to be accountability here because the gross negligence is on the part of the Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano and his office failed here,” Kennedy said.

Minock also discovered that Descano’s office told the court in 2021 that Ortez is an MS-13 gang member and the reason why he and others allegedly attacked and murdered a man in 2019 was that the victim had flashed a rival street gang sign at them.

Descano’s office has dropped several charges against Ortez in other crimes in recent years, such as a 2019 robbery & concealed weapon charge, because Ortez served over 1.5 years in jail, and he completed other necessary requirements.

Charges were also dropped in a 2023 assault because he completed the necessary requirements after becoming aggressive in an emergency room while receiving medical treatment.

Descano’s office said prosecutors dropped a malicious wounding charge from this year because they claim there was insufficient evidence to move forward with a criminal case, since the victim had moved out of the country.

https://wjla.com/news/local/accused-ms-13-member-facing-charges-in-reston-shooting-has-history-of-dropped-cases-marvin-morales-ortez-fairfax-county-commonwealths-attorney-steve-descano[/quote]

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