Judge Orders Deportation for Convicted Teen

Joeri DeBeer, who was convicted in an Orange County court of manslaughter in the shooting death of his guardian after years of sexual abuse, then granted probation when the jury pleaded for mercy, Thursday was ordered deported to the Netherlands.

Immigration Judge James Vandello ruled that DeBeer, 18, was deportable for committing “a crime of moral turpitude” (the slaying) and for being in violation of his non-immigrant student visa.

The judge denied a motion by DeBeer’s attorney, John R. Alcorn, to drop the deportation order. Alcorn argued that the youth’s attorney at his manslaughter trial had erred by not requesting the sentencing judge to recommend against deportation and had also invalidated DeBeer’s student visa by taking him on a fishing trip to Mexico.

Will Appeal Ruling

Alcorn said he will appeal the judge’s ruling to the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals. DeBeer is free to remain in the country pending the outcome of his appeal.

Arthur Shanks, acting district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said the initial appeals process “usually takes about 18 months.”

DeBeer’s case drew national attention when the jury that convicted him appeared at his sentencing and pleaded for leniency. DeBeer had been found guilty in the April, 1985, shooting death of Philip A. Parsons, his legal guardian. Parsons, a convicted child molester, brought the boy back with him from Saudi Arabia at the age of 13, after promising DeBeer’s mother to make him a motorcycle racing champion.

DeBeer was placed on probation last June and sentenced to the 14 months he had already served in Juvenile Hall. Since then he has been living in a rural community 60 miles east of San Francisco with a family who had befriended him before his trial.

After Thursday’s deportation ruling, DeBeer said he did not want to return to the Netherlands. “I have a lot more support here,” he said. “Friends, love, school; things I missed out on when I was young. I feel like I’ve been showing I deserve a chance.”