WEYMOUTH - Everybody wanted Abdulrhman A. Abduljalil to face justice, but he walked free anyhow.



The 31-year-old Saudi national appears to have slipped through a gap in agency authority that allowed him to escape prosecution for child rape and earn a free ticket home despite being under indictment. Officials at both the Norfolk County district attorney’s office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement refused to take responsibility for his release or to assign blame, saying only that their own agency’s hands were tied.



The loophole through which Abduljalil eventually escaped began to open last summer in Quincy District Court, where Judge Mark Coven set bail at $35,000 cash despite prosecutors’ request that it be set at $100,000. Abduljalil posted bail within two weeks and Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone later declined to increase it, allowing him to live with a family in New Hampshire while awaiting his next court date.



While out on bail, Abduljalil was picked up by immigration enforcement agents and charged with violating the terms of his entry into the country, Shawn Neudauer, an ICE spokesman, said. In November, an immigration judge ordered ICE to return Abduljalil to Saudi Arabia.



Norfolk County prosecutors were told that Abduljalil was in ICE custody and in early January asked Norfolk Superior Court to issue a habeas corpus – essentially an order to deliver someone in custody – to ICE’s Boston field office instructing the agency to bring Abduljalil to court for a pretrial conference on Jan. 25. Despite the order, Abduljalil was deported Jan. 24.



ICE typically honors writs of habeas corpus, but only if the agency requesting a detainee is able to keep them in its custody, according to an ICE official. Abduljalil had already posted bail, so he would have been able walk free once he was turned over to the district attorney’s office.



The official said the agency also does not have the authority to hold individuals on behalf of other agencies and must deport them once a judge has ordered their removal.



Immigrants charged with low-level crimes in the U.S. are frequently deported rather than prosecuted here, but David Traub, a spokesman for Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey, said that that’s not what happened with Abduljalil .



“He was indicted and brought into Superior Court with the intention of prosecution,” Traub said.



Abduljalil is not the only defendant to escape prosecution for serious crimes in the U.S. thanks to immigration enforcement. Halim Moris, a Boston immigration attorney who teaches at New England Law, said he sees cases where defendants are deported against the wishes of prosecutors “very, very often.”



“I’m not sure if it’s a miscommunication or if ICE just decides it’s better to just get rid of them,” he said.



Neal Simpson may be reached at nesimpson@ledger.com or follow him on Twitter @NSimpson_Ledger.





