US Prison Accidentally Releases Murderer... Re-Arrested After 5 Days

▲Ever Morales Lopez at Washington Correctional Facility in Comstock, New York, where he was incarcerated and later released

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Local governments and prisons in the United States are facing controversy after mistakenly releasing a prisoner who was on trial for murder. Several days later, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) re-arrested the prisoner, but the controversy has not subsided.

According to the New York Post and others on the 16th (local time), the FBI re-arrested Ever Morales Lopez (26), a former gangster who was serving time at Washington Prison in Comstock, New York, on the 8th, just five days after his early release on the 3rd. This was due to a mistake by staff at Washington Prison and Nassau County who released the prisoner by error.

Ever Morales Lopez is a member of the organized crime group MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) and was indicted last July on charges of kidnapping and two counts of attempted murder, having collaborated with seven fellow gang members to kill six members of a rival gang.

He is also accused of luring Kerin Pineda (20), who belonged to the rival gang '18th Street,' to a harbor on May 21, 2016, watching over while his associates killed Pineda, and then burying the body in a pre-dug grave the day before, thereby disposing of the corpse.

Under current U.S. law, such serious crimes can result in life imprisonment or the death penalty. Prosecutors were considering whether to seek the death penalty against Morales Lopez. He was scheduled to be transferred to a federal prison for trial.

However, the local government and prison authorities, unaware of the additional charges against Morales Lopez, released him.

Morales Lopez had already been serving a prison sentence of at least 3 years and 6 months and up to 10 years and 6 months since 2018 for aiding murder and drug trafficking, and was granted early release as a privilege for good behavior.

As a result, Morales Lopez, a criminal involved in a murder case, was roaming the streets for five days.

The FBI, unprepared for the possibility of his early release, only realized this later and hurriedly re-arrested him within 12 hours and applied for a detention warrant.

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of Islip, New York, detained Morales Lopez on the 10th, the day after his re-arrest, calling him "a very dangerous presence to the community."