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Man mistakenly released from prison 90 years too early

A Colorado man was mistakenly released from prison 90 years too early, and now may have to go back to serve his full sentence after completely turning his life ...
Rene Lima-Marin

A Colorado man was mistakenly released from prison 90 years too early, and now has to go back to serve his full sentence after completely turning his life around.

ABC News reported that in 2000, Rene Lima-Marin and another man were convicted of multiple robbery, kidnapping, and burglary charges from an incident where the two had forced video store employees into a back room at gunpoint and demanded money from a safe.

Lima-Marin was ordered to serve eight back-to-back sentences equaling 98 years, but due to a court clerk error, the Department of Corrections thought the eight sentences were supposed to run at the same time for 16 years.

After serving eight years, Lima-Marin was mistakenly released on parole in 2008, according to the report.

Once released, ABC News reported that Lima-Marin learned to cut and install windows and started selling coupon books door-to-door. He married a former girlfriend, Jasmine, and helped raise her son. The two also gave birth to another son.

A former prosecutor who was checking on the status of Rene’s case found the mistake in January of 2014.  Senior Deputy District Attorney Rich Orman was alerted to the mistake and filed a motion to send Lima-Marin back to prison, according to the report

On January 7, after Lima-Marin had been out for nearly six years, officers came to his door to take him back to prison.

Lima-Marin’s wife Jasmine said that day was the worst day of her life and that “it hasn’t gotten any better since then.”

ABC News reported that Lima-Marin filed an appeal in 2000 but less than one year later asked for it to be dismissed. Prosecutors said they believe this shows that he knew about the error, and didn’t want it to be discovered.

Orman said he believes Lima-Marin should not get off just because of a clerical error.

“He should go back because the law requires the sentence he received. This was a number of very serious criminal offenses, and anything less would be inappropriate,” Orman said.

Jasmine, however, said she does not think her husband knew, because he would have told her.

“That was his life, raising his kids and being a husband,” Jasmine said, according to ABC News. “He definitely was not the same person that he was when he went in to prison.”

In April Lima-Marin’s public defender requested he be released, but the request was denied.

The family is reportedly considering another appeal.

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