Biography
Sister Dianne Muhlenkamp, a Catholic religious sister of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ from Indiana, was arrested by the Border Patrol on February 17, 1984 while driving a Diocese of Brownsville vehicle carrying Salvadoran refugees. Stacey Lynn Merkt and reporter Jack Fischer were also arrested. Contemporary reporting confirms release on personal-recognizance bond by February 21, but does not give her exact discharge day. In April 1984 she sought pretrial diversion with a year of supervision and possible dismissal upon successful completion, rather than a prison sentence. Later reporting confirmed diversion had been granted and that the prosecution did not ultimately call her as a witness in Merkt's trial. An independently dated final dismissal order has not been established in this review.
Corrected initial custody and bounded release
The March 9, 1984 Texas Observer, printed page 10, individually dates Muhlenkamp's arrest to February 17. The original Merkt appellate opinion, 764 F.2d 266, describes the same stop and transport to the Rio Grande City Border Patrol station. Its reversal of Merkt's conviction is not Muhlenkamp's dismissal or release. The February 21, 1984 Midland Reporter-Telegram, printed page 8A, original Associated Press report, individually includes Muhlenkamp in the reported recognizance releases. Her actual release occurred between February 17 and February 21; the exact day remains unknown.
Diversion is not sentence custody
The April 27, 1984 Pampa News, printed page 3, original AP report, describes a pretrial-diversion application and conditional future dismissal. The May 18 Catholic newspaper's indexed NC report, attributes confirmation of granted diversion to her order's communications director; the original scan could not be retrieved in this review. The May 7 UPI trial report, states that the prosecutor elected not to call her. These reports do not establish a served prison term or an independently dated final dismissal. No identified, reusable portrait was established, and no other defendant's prison sentence is attributed to her.
