NATURE OF CONVICTION " STATUTORY INTERPRETATION " STATE COURT INTERPRETATIONS OF STATE STATUTES
United States v. Parral-Dominguez, ___ F.3d ___, 2015 WL 4479530 (4th Cir. Jul. 23, 2015) (immigration authorities are bound by interpretation of elements of state offense by states highest court); United States v. Aparicio"Soria, 740 F.3d 152, 154 (4th Cir. 2014) (en banc) (To the extent that the statutory definition of the prior offense has been interpreted by the state's highest court, that interpretation constrains our analysis of the elements of state law.).
POST CON RELIEF " STATE REHABILITATIVE RELIEF " CALIFORNIA " EXPUNGEMENTS REMAIN EFFECTIVE SO LONG AS CONVICTION PREDATES NUNEZ-REYES " REQUEST TO CORRECT FAM
9 FAM 40.21(b)a(2) includes the Lujan exception to controlled substances inadmissibility, but requires an advisory opinion before a Lujan exception will be granted. This FAM provision is found at http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86942.pdf
Note that the FAM authors misunderstood and misstated the holding of Nunez-Reyes v. Holder, 646 F.3d 684 (Jul. 14, 2011), when they stated that "state judicial expungements that predate this decision can still be effective for immigration purposes in the Ninth Circuit." This is only partly correct.
PRACTICE ADVISORY " CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES " SAFE HAVEN PLEA AGGRAVATED FELONY " DRUG TRAFFICKING " SAFE HAVEN PLEA
In cases charging sales and possession for sale of a controlled substance, defense counsel should consider pleading to a single count of Health & Safety Code 11352(a), under People v. Palmer, 58 Cal.4th 110 (2013), without identifying any particular factual basis. The specific offense for the plea should be that the defendant "offered to sell" an unidentified controlled substance in violation of 11352(a), striking any reference to a specific substance in the charge, making sure that the charge contains all the statutory alternatives. A sentence of less than 180 days is desirable.
RELIEF " CANCELLATION OF REMOVAL " STOP-TIME RULE IS NOT TRIGGERED BY A NOTICE OF APPEAR THAT WAS NEVER SERVED ON THE COURT
Matter of Ordaz, 26 I&N Dec. 637 (BIA 2015) (a notice to appear that was served on an alien but never resulted in the commencement of removal proceedings does not have "stop-time" effect for purposes of establishing eligibility for cancellation of removal pursuant to INA 240A(d)(1), 8 U.S.C. 1229b(d)(1)).
NOTE: This decision could potentially be used to argue for something like repapering (issuing a new NTA to allow noncitizen to have 10 years presence) as a form of prosecutorial discretion, except one would need to intercept the NTA before it is served on the court.
DETAINER " IMMIGRATION DETAINER " FOURTH AMENDMENT SEIZURE
Morales v. Chadbourne, ___ F.3d ___, 2015 WL 4385945 (1st Cir. Jul. 17, 2015) (U.S. citizen, who was kept in custody due to immigration detainer, after she was entitled to release, was subjected to new seizure for Fourth Amendment purposes).
POST CON RELIEF " WISCONSIN " GROUNDS " INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL " FAILURE TO GIVE ACCURATE IMMIGRATION ADVICE
State v. Shata, ___ Wis. ___, Case No. 2013AP1437-CR, slip op. (Jul. 9, 2015) (where conviction made the defendant deportable, defense counsel had a Padilla obligation to advise the defendant of that immigration consequence); but see State v. Ortiz-Mondragon, ___ Wis. ___, Case No. 2013AP2435-CR, slip op. (Jul.
IMMIGRATION OFFENSES " ILLEGAL REENTRY " ELEMENTS
United States v. Guzman-Ibarez, ___ F.3d ___, 2015 WL 4068922 (9th Cir. Jul. 6, 2015) (immigration judge violated alien's due process rights when, in course of deportation proceedings, she failed to advise alien of availability of discretionary relief in form of waiver of deportation).
IMMIGRATION OFFENSES " ILLEGAL REENTRY " ELEMENTS " DEPORTATION " NO PREJUDICE SHOWN FROM DUE PROCESS VIOLATION IN REMOVAL HEARING
United States v. Garcia-Gonzalez, ___ F.3d ___, 2015 WL 3980960 (9th Cir. Jul. 1, 2015) (defendant failed to establish that he was prejudiced by immigration officials' due process violation during predicate expedited removal proceeding, and so did not establish that the deportation order, an element of illegal reentry offense, was legally invalid).
SENTENCE " REDUCTION FROM FELONY TO MISDEMEANOR " PENAL CODE 1170.18 REQUIRES REDUCTION OF POSSESSION CONVICTION UNDER HEALTH & SAFETY CODE 11377(a) AND REMAND FOR RESENTENCING
People v. DeHoyos, ___ Cal.App.4th ___, 2015 WL 3978685 (4th Dist. June 30, 2015) (amendment to Health & Safety Code 11377(a), which made possession of controlled substance punishable as a misdemeanor, did not retroactively apply to defendant's conviction for possession of methamphetamine, such that she was not automatically entitled to resentencing; defendant was required to utilize statutory resentencing procedure; Act indicated legislative intent not to permit automatic application of Act to anyone currently serving sentence).
CAL POST-CONVICTION RELIEF " GOVERNORS PARDON
Santos v. Brown, 238 Cal.App.4th 398 (3d Dist. Jun.
