Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

Coram nobis[305] is a common-law writ, a judicially created remedy to secure relief from a judgment that was rendered by the court in ignorance of a fact that (a) does not go to guilt or innocence, but (b) if known by the court, would have prevented the judgment.  The purpose of the writ is to provide a remedy where none other is available against a judgment that was procured under circumstances offensive to fundamental concepts of justice, such as the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.[306]

            The writ is riddled with loopholes and is a very difficult vehicle to use to force a reluctant court to grant relief to your client.  If there is no other feasible way, however, it does provide an opportunity to file an attack on a conviction and get into court in hopes that the equities may motivate the prosecution or court to grant relief.

[305] For further information on this writ in California, see Appeals and Writs in Criminal Cases § § 2.149‑2.180; Erwin, Millman, Monroe, Sevilla, Tarlow, California Criminal Defense Practice, § 102.20 (Matthew Bender); Prickett, The Writ of Error Coram Nobis in California, 30 Santa Clara L. Rev. 1 (1990).  For discussion of writ of error coram nobis and immigration law, see Immigration Law and Crimes (West Group 1999), § 4.2(b) and Garcia, The Coram Nobis Writ in an Immigration Law Context, 2 U.C.L.A. Chicano Law Review 92 (1975).

[306] See, e.g., Taylor v. Alabama, 335 U.S. 252, 259, 68 S.Ct. 1415 (1947); People v. Shorts, 32 Cal.2d 502, 197 P.2d 330 (1948); People v. Weidersperg, 44 Cal.App.3d 550, 118 Cal.Rptr. 755 (1975).