Man pleads guilty to Michigan killing that stoked anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric

GRAND RIDS, Mich. — A Mexican nationwide who’s within the U.S. illegally pleaded responsible Monday to killing his girlfriend and dumping her physique alongside a Michigan freeway.

Brandon Ortiz Vite, 25, entered the plea in a Grand Rapids, Michigan, courtroom and is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 31.

He confronted trial on prices of second-degree homicide, carjacking, carrying a hid weapon and utilizing a firearm within the fee of a felony.

The case turned a political flashpoint in April when former President Donald Trump accused the Biden administration of failing to maintain Ortiz Vite in another country after he was deported in 2020. It’s not recognized whether or not he returned over the last yr of the Trump administration or in the course of the Biden administration.

Ruby Garcia was discovered shot to loss of life on the aspect of a freeway on March 22.

Earlier than the taking pictures, she and Ortiz Vite have been in a automotive on U.S. 131, arguing about their relationship, investigators mentioned. Ortiz Vite shot Garcia within the head, eliminated her physique from the automotive after which drove away, prosecutors mentioned.

Police mentioned the proof in opposition to him consists of his name to 911 two days later, confessing to the crime and declaring that he needed to show himself in. He was at a church attending Palm Sunday companies when he made the decision.

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker mentioned Garcia’s household most popular Ortiz Vite’s plea as a substitute of the case going to trial, in accordance with WOOD-TV.

“Though we now have an excellent case, and I wasn’t frightened about dropping it, however issues occur,” Becker mentioned. “Issues might be overturned. It might be a mistrial. There’s far more certainty with a plea than should you take it to trial.”

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