Current:Home > FinanceMan pleads guilty to Michigan killing that stoked anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric-InfoLens
Man pleads guilty to Michigan killing that stoked anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric
View Date:2024-12-23 14:19:10
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Mexican national who is in the U.S. illegally pleaded guilty Monday to killing his girlfriend and dumping her body along 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 faced trial on charges of second-degree murder, carjacking, carrying a concealed weapon and using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
The case became a political flashpoint in April when former President Donald Trump accused the Biden administration of failing to keep Ortiz Vite out of the country after he was deported in 2020. It’s not known whether he returned during the last year of the Trump administration or during the Biden administration.
Ruby Garcia was found shot to death on the side of a highway on March 22.
Before the shooting, she and Ortiz Vite were in a car on U.S. 131, arguing about their relationship, investigators said. Ortiz Vite shot Garcia in the head, removed her body from the car and then drove away, prosecutors said.
Police said the evidence against him includes his call to 911 two days later, confessing to the crime and declaring that he wanted to turn himself in. He was at a church attending Palm Sunday services when he made the call.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said Garcia’s family preferred Ortiz Vite’s plea instead of the case going to trial, according to WOOD-TV.
“Although we have a very good case, and I wasn’t worried about losing it, but things happen,” Becker said. “Things could be overturned. It could be a mistrial. There’s much more certainty with a plea than if you take it to trial.”
veryGood! (812)
Related
- Disney Store's Black Friday Sale Just Started: Save an Extra 20% When You Shop Early
- Hawaii lawmakers wrap up session featuring tax cuts, zoning reform and help for fire-stricken Maui
- Here are the job candidates that employers are searching for most
- How a Fight With Abby Lee Miller Ended Brooke and Paige Hyland's Dance Moms Careers
- Indiana in the top five of the College Football Playoff rankings? You've got to be kidding
- Slain Charlotte officer remembered as hard-charging cop with soft heart for his family
- Nick Viall Shares How He and Natalie Joy Are Stronger Than Ever After Honeymoon Gone Wrong
- Connecticut lawmakers take first steps to pass bill calling for cameras at absentee ballot boxes
- Kennesaw State football coach Brian Bohannon steps down after 10 seasons amid first year in FBS
- Lawyers dispute child’s cause of death in ‘treadmill abuse’ murder case
Ranking
- Noem’s Cabinet appointment will make a plain-spoken rancher South Dakota’s new governor
- The SEC charges Trump Media’s newly hired auditing firm with ‘massive fraud’
- After top betting choices Fierceness and Sierra Leone, it’s wide open for the 150th Kentucky Derby
- Late-season storm expected to bring heavy snowfall to the Sierra Nevada
- Mandy Moore Captures the Holiday Vibe With These No Brainer Gifts & Stocking Stuffer Must-Haves
- Nick Viall and Wife Natalie Joy Reveal F--ked Up Hairstylist Walked Out on Wedding Day
- 'You can't be gentle in comedy': Jerry Seinfeld on 'Unfrosted,' his Netflix Pop-Tart movie
- NYPD body cameras show mother pleading “Don’t shoot!” before officers kill her 19-year-old son
Recommendation
-
Why Suits' Gabriel Macht Needed Time Away From Harvey Specter After Finale
-
New Jersey governor sets July primary and September special election to fill Payne’s House seat
-
Kate Hudson makes debut TV performance on 'Tonight Show,' explains foray into music: Watch
-
Late-season storm expected to bring heavy snowfall to the Sierra Nevada
-
Dramatic video shows Phoenix police rescue, pull man from car submerged in pool: Watch
-
Hulk Hogan, hurricanes and a blockbuster recording: A week in review of the Trump hush money trial
-
Slain Charlotte officer remembered as hard-charging cop with soft heart for his family
-
Swiss company to build $184 million metal casting facility in Georgia, hiring 350