Recently, in Los Angeles County at the Inglewood Courthouse our office successfully litigated a Penal Code § 1473.7 motion arguing that our client failed to meaningfully understand the immigration consequences that would result from his 2002 Health and Safety Code section 11352(a), “Transportation with Intent to Sell ” controlled substance conviction.
Our client came to the United States when he was ten years old to escape the rampant communism in his birth country of Cuba. Our client has lived in the United States since his arrival at the age of ten. Recently, our client was served with a “Notice to Appear” in immigration removal court by the Department of Homeland Security based on his conviction in this case. Our client hired our office to attempt to seek post-conviction relief.
Our client’s conviction makes him removable for having been convicted of an aggravated felony relating to a drug trafficking offense and makes him further removable for having been convicted of a crime involving controlled substances in violation of INA Section 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(II).
At the time of our client’s plea in 2002, our client was advised that this conviction will result in deportation, denial of naturalization, and denial of any citizenship or denial or re-entry. However, in our motion, we argued that our client should have been advised that the offense would result in mandatory and permanent deportation, denial of naturalization, and exclusion from admission. Further, our client was unaware that he could seek to negotiate to other immigration neutral convictions that would not cause him the immigration prejudice he is currently facing.
We litigated this motion for over ten months, presenting changes in the law and equities in support of our motion. In the course of litigating this matter, we discovered that two law enforcement officers involved in the original investigation for this case had been subsequently convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude – this factor assisted us in ultimately winning the motion. At the final hearing date, the district attorney agreed to submit on the motion and the Health and Safety Code section 11352 offense was vacated and renegotiated to an immigration safe charge!
This is a great result for our client and he is now eligible for cancellation of removal in immigration court!
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