A Marine Is Killed by An Illegal

A man charged with manslaughter in the drunken-driving deaths of two people was in the U.S. illegally and had obtained a driver’s license in North Carolina, according to immigration officials.
Eduardo Raul Morales-Soriano, 25, of Laurel, has been charged with two counts of homicide by motor vehicle in the deaths of Marine Cpl. Brian Mathews, 21, of Columbia, and Jennifer Bower, 24, of Montgomery Village.
Mathews and Bower, who were on their second date, were killed on Thanksgiving when Morales-Soriano allegedly slammed into the back of their car. Mathews had recently finished eight months of duty in Iraq and planned to leave the military in June.
Morales-Soriano, who police said had a blood-alcohol level four times the legal limit for driving, was not injured in the crash. He was being held in the Howard County Detention Center on $830,000 bail.
There was no record of Morales-Soriano, a Mexican citizen who worked as a landscaper, entering the U.S. legally, said James Dinkins, acting special agent in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office in Baltimore.
Morales-Soriano used his North Carolina driver’s license issued Feb. 5, 2004, to obtain a license in Maryland on July 8, 2005, according to Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, The (Baltimore) Sun reported.
And get this, back in February, Morales-Soriano refused a Breathalyzer test at the scene of a non-injury accident but his license was never suspended, police said.
Smelling of alcohol and failing to keep his balance, Morales-Soriano refused the test and was given four citations before being released, said Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for Howard County State’s Attorney Office.
The police officer mistakenly gave Morales-Soriano a form that was should have been sent to the motor vehicle office. Officials couldn’t suspend his license as required by law when a driver refuses a Breathalyzer.
Prosecutors later dropped the charges against Morales-Soriano, noting weak evidence.
And now after serving in Iraq this soldier, then comes home and gets killed by an illegal!!!!

Marine mourned after drunken driving crash

Marine Cpl. Brian Mathews was patrolling downtown Ramadi, Iraq, on Nov. 11, 2005, when his unit fell victim to an insurgent sniper ambush.
But Mathews, 21, of Columbia, never flinched.
“He was beside me the whole time,” said Cpl. Daniel Robinson, 22, of Texas, Mathews’ squad leader. “He was giving his team commands. He was a perfectionist Marine, and it really showed. We didn’t have one casualty or one killed in action in the ambush.”
Now Mathews’ fellow Marines are mourning his death after police say a drunken driver killed the 21-year-old on Thanksgiving night while he was home visiting his family in Columbia.
Reached at Camp Pendleton in California, Cpl. Garrett Farris, 21, of Texas, said the Marines who served with Mathews are distraught over his death.
“It’s more anger than anything,” he said. “A guy goes to war and has no problems with that. He comes back to the States, and it’s supposed to be our safe place.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Lance Cpl. Jae Lee, 21, of Orange County, Calif., who served with Mathews in Ramadi.
“He was a really good friend,” Lee said. “I was shocked at first when I heard what happened. He went through seven months in Iraq, and to get hit by a drunken driver is unfair.”
Mathews and Jennifer Bower, 24, of Montgomery Village, were killed after a crash at 10:20 p.m. on Route 175 in Columbia, when police say a 25-year-old man who was drinking and driving slammed into their car.
Police have charged Eduardo Raul Morales Soriano, 25, of Laurel, with homicide by motor vehicle, manslaughter while intoxicated, and driving while under the influence of alcohol. Soriano was not injured, police said.
Mathews’ fellow Marines remember him as a solid, responsible Marine. They say his death is a huge loss to the force.