{"id":458841,"date":"2026-09-10T01:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T01:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/458841\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T01:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T01:48:16","slug":"ms-13-gangster-the-witch-accidentally-released-due-to-prosecutor-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/458841\/","title":{"rendered":"MS-13 gangster ‘The Witch’ accidentally released due to prosecutor error"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prosecutors have admitted to making a huge legal error that led to an \u201cactivist\u201d judge setting free<\/a> an MS-13 illegal migrant known as a \u201dThe Witch\u201d who is wanted for a gruesome murder \u2014 after the California Post exposed the decision.<\/p>\n

The gangster, David Antonio Aviles Perez, 35, is now wandering free in California, following federal Judge Jinsook Ohta\u2019s ruling on Aug. 26.<\/p>\n

San Diego prosecutors begged forgiveness in court Tuesday for releasing the MS-13 member, who was captured by San Diego ICE agents<\/a>\u00a0in March on an international warrant and was being held pending removal from the US.<\/p>\n

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But federal prosecutors admitted that they failed to tell federal Judge Jinsook Ohta about the man\u2019s criminal history, which also includes a California arrest for allegedly attacking a vagrant with a machete.<\/p>\n

David Antonio Aviles Perez, who is living in the US illegally, remains at large.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy failure was an unintentional mistake, and I sincerely apologize to the Court for my omission,\u201d wrote Assistant US Attorney Michael Wallace in a sworn declaration showing remorse for the legal blunder.<\/p>\n

US Attorney Adam Gordon and his office, which represents ICE, called Wallace\u2019s omission a one-off.<\/p>\n

Ohta ordered the bumbling lawyers to provide an argument in writing as to why they should not be punished. Ohta said she would not have feed the man if she\u2019d known about his criminal past and link to an alleged gang execution.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s authorized federal authorities to arrest Aviles Perez again \u2014 if authorities ever manage to find him.<\/p>\n

Judge Jinsook Ohta said it\u2019s not her fault that she released a wanted killer. FBASD<\/p>\n

A federal law enforcement source with knowledge of the case said it\u2019s \u201cstunning\u201d prosecutors failed to tell Ohta about Aviles Perez\u2019s rap sheet \u2014 but said the judge still shouldn\u2019t have set him free.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery illegal alien is subject to detention,\u201d said the official. \u201cOhta should have been told about the criminal history, but it also shouldn\u2019t matter because she shouldn\u2019t be ordering anybody to be immediately released from custody, except in extraordinary circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

California\u2019s federal judges may order the immediate release of detained illegal migrants under the legal precedent habeas corpus, which allows any person in custody to challenge the legality of their detention. A writ of habeas corpus orders the government to bring the detained individual before a judge and prove they have the legal right to hold them. If the government fails to justify the confinement, the court must release the individual.<\/p>\n

Avilas Perez was being detained by ICE in the US. The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images<\/p>\n

But Ohta freed Aviles Perez before the government had a chance to justify his confinement at a bond hearing. <\/p>\n

According to The Post\u2019s source, this is common practice in California, and Ohta does it routinely.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s an activist,\u201d said the official. \u201cShe\u2019s actually, in my view, the worst one by far in the Southern District of California.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohta ripped into prosecutors in a hearing at San Diego\u2019s federal courthouse. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ohta, who was appointed to the federal bench by\u00a0then-President Joe Biden<\/a>\u00a0in 2021, did not respond to requests for comment. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Aviles Perez has a record of violence in the US, as well as abroad: He was arrested in 2023 for\u00a0assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly swung a machete at a man in Monterey, Calif., according to Department of Homeland Security officials and police documents.<\/p>\n

The illegal immigrant was released under California\u2019s sanctuary laws and remained at large until he was arrested by ICE earlier this year, DHS officials said.<\/p>\n

Aviles Perez was convicted of a 2014 gang killing in his home country of El Salvador.<\/p>\n

In December, officials in El Salvador sentenced Aviles Perez to 20 years in prison on a charge of aggravated homicide for the execution of an MS-13 adversary, authorities reported.<\/p>\n

In July 2014, Aviles Perez and an accomplice named Ismael Enrique Mendoza Flores were accused of murdering a man in the town of Yucuaiqu\u00edn in El Salvador\u2019s eastern state of La Union, according to the country\u2019s attorney general.<\/p>\n

Aviles Perez \u2014 known as \u201cLa Bruja\u201d or \u201cThe Witch\u201d \u2014 and his fellow gang members followed the victim and shot\u00a0at him during a dispute, according to an alert issued by the country\u2019s attorney general on Dec. 16.<\/p>\n

Avilas Perez was headed for a prison in El Salvador before he was released. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how or when Aviles Perez entered the US, but he first appeared on California law enforcement\u2019s radar nearly a decade after the El Salvador murder, with his arrest for the machete attack.<\/p>\n

After The Post broke the story of his release, Ohta took heavy criticism for her decision to free him. <\/p>\n

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin<\/a> issued a statement saying her actions \u201cput American lives at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linda Lopez ordered the release of gang-affiliated Salvadoran Luis Valle. FBASD<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is now the second time this dangerous illegal has been released back onto the streets in California,\u201d Mullen said. \u201cBecause sanctuary politicians want to play politics from the bench, innocent Americans are in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homeland Security Secretary Secretary Markwayne Mullin ripped the release of Avilas Perez. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Aviles Perez\u2019s release came as another gang-affiliated Salvadoran, Luis Valle, was also ordered released from ICE custody while awaiting removal.<\/p>\n

Valle, a convicted first-degree murderer, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for a murder he committed in Los Angeles in the early 1990s. <\/p>\n

He was released from state prison on parole just last year.<\/p>\n

Linda Lopez, another judge in the same court district as Ohta, ordered Valle released from ICE detention, ruling there is \u201cgood reason to believe that there is no significant likelihood of his removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

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