Convicted robber mistakenly released 88 years early from prison

Lawyers say Rene Lima Martin, a married father-of-two, has reformed and should now be released

Rene Lima-Marin in Arapahoe County Court (Fox31 Denver)

A reformed robber who was mistakenly released 10-years into a 98-year sentence could be back behind bars this Christmas as a legal challenge to his re-imprisonment continues.

Rene Lima- Martin from Aurora, Colorado was 19 when he robbed two video shops in 1998. Handed prison terms totalling 98 years, a judge ordered they run consecutively.

But a mix-up behind the scenes meant the state's prison service thought Mr Lima-Marin was due to serve the sentences concurrently and he was released after just 10-years, the Fox31 TV station reported. He would serve another five years on parole,

The mistake was discovered in January 2014 and Mr Lima-Marin was hauled back to prison, tearing apart the young family he had established since his release in 2008.

Lawyers are now claiming that the married father-of-two should be released under a writ of habeas corpus at the Arapahoe County Court in Denver.

"We argued the government is holding him illegally because their conduct is what put him in the place that he is," litigator Jaime Halscott told Fox31.

Pleading on behalf of his children, Mr Lima-Marin told the court: "I've been taken away from them and all they have is me and my wife. And this just doesn't make sense to me. I didn't do anything worth 98 years."

The state argued he knew he was getting out early and that a bureaucratic error should not void his sentence.

But Mr Lima-Marin insisted his appeal attorney told him his sentence was 16 years.

"This professional in this field was appointed to me, is telling me I have 16 years," he said. "So who am I to question this professional appointed to me to assist me in this process?"

At the time of his arrest, his wife Jasmine told local media that his re-incarceration was "wrong".

"He’s changed," she said. "He changed his life for the better, when he got out. His number one goal was never to go back there.

"Murderers don’t even get 98 years. I think it’s ridiculous."

Judge Carlos Samour will review the submissions before issuing a decision, but has not specified when that will be.