Portland man asks for pardon to avoid deportation

[Judi Lynn]

Portland man asks for pardon to avoid deportation


AP

April 21. 2004 8:02AM


PORTLAND, Maine - A Portland man who pleaded guilty to a drunken-driving accident in which his sister was killed is asking Gov. John Baldacci to wipe the conviction from his record so he can avoid deportation to Cambodia.

Touch Rin Svay, 24, is scheduled to appear on Thursday before the Governor's Board on Executive Clemency at the State House. A pardon could be the last chance for Svay to avoid deportation to a country he has never seen.

He was born in a refugee camp in Thailand in 1979, and moved to Maine when he was 5. Although he never became a U.S. citizen, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from Deering High School and served honorably until his conviction.

Svay was home on leave from the Marines on May 20, 2001, when he went to a party with his sister and friends. Svay was driving one of five cars that were passing each other on Route 85 in Raymond at 3:30 a.m. Police say he was driving 98 mph when he lost control and crashed into a utility pole.
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