ANN ARBOR, Michigan (Michigan News Source) – In a move that has sparked outrage, U.S. District Judge Judith Levy, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, made comments from the bench that critics describe as a stunning, praising an illegal immigrant who sexually assaulted a disabled woman.
The defendant, 30-year-old Honduran national Edys Renan Membreno Diaz, was convicted in 2022 of sexually assaulting a woman with cerebral palsy and cognitive delays, raping and sodomizing her.
Court records detail violent assault on disabled woman.
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According to court records, after illegally reentering the United States for the seventh time, Diaz assaulted a disabled woman inside her Michigan apartment building. As the woman, who has cerebral palsy and cognitive delays, walked past a laundry room, he grabbed her, pulled her inside, and shut the door. He then sexually assaulted her, groping her breasts from behind, pulling down her underwear, and penetrating her anally while also inserting his fingers into her vagina. The attack caused physical injuries, including vaginal bleeding. Diaz later admitted in state court that he used force or coercion during the assault and that he knew the victim was mentally incapable of consenting.
According to a Detroit News report, Diaz pleaded guilty to three sex crimes stemming from the July 2022 assault and was sentenced in October 2022 to 6 to 15 years in a Michigan prison, what many see as a light sentence for a heinous crime.
From repeat offender to courtroom commendation.
In addition to that, despite reportedly reentering the country illegally seven times, Diaz was spared the typical prison sentence for that offense in August of this year – and was even openly praised from the bench.
Diaz told the court he had been drunk during the assault and apologized to all Americans. He said he wanted to return to his home country and not come back to the United States, adding that he would urge others not to enter the country illegally — and, if they do come, to do so lawfully to avoid the consequences he now faces in prison.
Judge Levy commended the illegal immigrant for his promises and told him, “I appreciate the degree to which you’ve taken responsibility for everything that has happened and I also commend you for supporting your family during your time here in this country. I know that they have benefitted from that a lot and I wish you the best in your completion of your state sentence and your return to Honduras.” Levy went on to say, “So I commend you for supporting your family, for expressing your devotion to them and for working here in the United States in jobs that Americans apparently do not want to work in and certainly not for the wages that were undoubtedly abusive of your work for them.”
A sentence that defies logic.
Suggesting that Diaz’s story will be a lesson for others, Levy called him an “ambassador for living up to our immigration restrictions” and on the assumption that the convicted criminal is telling the truth, the judge said, “you will communicate your experience to people back in Honduras and discourage them from coming here without documentation.”
Judge cites poverty, remorse in rejecting prosecutors’ 24-month request.
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Judge Levy sentenced Diaz to time served for his federal charge of unlawful reentry, with the sentence running concurrently with his existing Michigan state prison term, rather than imposing the 24 months sought by prosecutors before he is to be deported.
In the sentencing, Levy emphasized Diaz’s background of extreme poverty in Honduras, his repeated illegal entries to support his family, his expressed remorse, and her belief that he would not reoffend and would actively discourage others from entering the U.S. illegally. She concluded his unlawful entry is not a violent crime and that additional prison time was not necessary to achieve deterrence or respect for the law, given his state sentence and pending removal from the country.
In the sentencing memo concerning the unlawful reentry, the government had argued that anything less than 24 months would fail to account for the criminal’s repeated illegal reentries and the serious criminal conduct he committed while unlawfully in the U.S. Prosecutors said a concurrent or time- served sentence would not promote respect for immigration law or deter future violations, and that standard sentencing averages do not reflect the extreme facts of this case, including the sexual assault of a highly vulnerable victim.
State says judge abused discretion in unlawful reentry case.
Prosecutors are urging an appeals court to throw out the judge’s unlawful reentry sentence and start over calling it an extreme departure from the usual sentencing and an “abuse of discretion.” They add that the sentence is not “proportionate to the seriousness of the circumstances of the offense and offender.”
With a projected release date of July 23, 2028, Diaz could be back on the street in less than three years, depending on how much of his remaining sentence he actually serves.
Whether the appeals court intervenes or not, the record now speaks for itself. The violently disabled victim received no public commendation from the bench, while her attacker was praised for his work ethic, family devotion, and supposed future role as an immigration “ambassador.”
For critics, the case has become a disturbing example of a justice system that appears more willing to empathize with a repeat illegal entrant and convicted sex offender than to prioritize accountability, deterrence, and the lasting harm done to one of Michigan’s most vulnerable residents.
