Recently, in Los Angeles County at the Norwalk Courthouse, we successfully litigated a post-conviction motion on behalf of our client.
In 1992, our client pled to Health and Safety Code § 11351, possession for sale of a controlled substance, a felony. He was placed on summary probation for three years on the condition that he served 180 days in county jail. Our client successfully completed his sentence.
However, at the time of the plea, our client was unaware of the factual certainty of the immigration consequences of his plea. When our client discovered that this conviction made him an enforcement priority for deportation, exclusion from admission to the United states and denial of naturalization, he sought post-conviction relief through our office.
Our office began the post-conviction relief process by obtaining a copy of the original court file. A transcript of the plea for his case could no longer be prepared, but the manual docket and waiver form are still available. However, the waiver from only advised our client that his conviction “may have the consequences of deportation, exclusion form admission to this country, and/or denial of naturalization pursuant to the laws of the United states.”
In our motion to vacate, our office argued that this advisement did not inform our client of the factual certainty of the immigration consequences such as the fact that his conviction would subject him to mandatory deportation and render him permanently inadmissible to the United States. We also argued that our client did not knowingly defend against these immigration consequences because he was not aware or advised that he could seek to negotiate to a reasonable, immigration-friendly, alternative disposition, such as pleading to Penal Code § 32. A conviction for an alternative disposition would have alleviated the immigration consequences he is now facing.
Upon arguing our motion in court, the Judge and the prosecution agreed to vacate the conviction in its entirety.
This is a great victory for our client and will better his opportunity remain in the United States!
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