How much will a misdemeanor - Criminal case impact our future citizenship process.

CaliGC

Registered Users (C)
My wife met with an accident and she was at fault. She stopped to exchange the insurance information but did not find anyone approaching her and was getting late to drop the kid off to school (less than half-mile away from the accident spot) and left to the accident spot. However in the mean time someone followed her and marked the vehicle number and had called the cops.

After dropping the kid to school she was on her way to the accident spot where she saw a police officer, she stopped the officer and explained the situation and provided the insurance, driver license, registration and all necessary information. The officer collected all the information and let go after an hour of wait trying to locate the other involved party without success.

The other party has filed a criminal case as ‘Hit and Run’ for which we have been called for arraignment. Currently we have hired an attorney to plead NOT-GUILTY and set a pre-trail court date. Do any of you have expertise to tell us how much this would create an issue/s if any, when we apply for citizenship four years later. Is there something we need to take care of right now not to impact our citizenship process in future.

Thanks in advance.
 
You will have to provide the court records when applying for citizenship. Whether it will hurt the citizenship case depends on the exact charges and whether there is a guilty verdict.

If the prosecutor offers a bargain to plead guilty in exchange for a smaller penalty, before pleading guilty make sure to seek advice from an immigration lawyer to determine whether it would be a deportable offense.

If found guilty, or found not guilty but the statements made in court could lead USCIS to make their own determination of guilt when reviewing the court records, again see a lawyer to find out of it would be a deportable offense. Unless she clearly wins the case, it may make sense to wait more than 5 years after the end of the court case, to make it be outside the 5-year "good moral character" window, since that would involve just a few extra months of waiting given that your GC got approved so recently.
 
You will have to provide the court records when applying for citizenship. Whether it will hurt the citizenship case depends on the exact charges and whether there is a guilty verdict.

If the prosecutor offers a bargain to plead guilty in exchange for a smaller penalty, before pleading guilty make sure to seek advice from an immigration lawyer to determine whether it would be a deportable offense.

If found guilty, or found not guilty but the statements made in court could lead USCIS to make their own determination of guilt when reviewing the court records, again see a lawyer to find out of it would be a deportable offense. Unless she clearly wins the case, it may make sense to wait more than 5 years after the end of the court case, to make it be outside the 5-year "good moral character" window, since that would involve just a few extra months of waiting given that your GC got approved so recently.

Ask your lawyer if the other party is willing for settlement: Drop the case in exchange for fully covering all repair for the party including their side of deductibles etc. Try and get a settlement where the other party can drop the case before the hearing.
 
Ask your lawyer if the other party is willing for settlement: Drop the case in exchange for fully covering all repair for the party including their side of deductibles etc. Try and get a settlement where the other party can drop the case before the hearing.
And the settlement should make it clear that she is not admitting any criminal wrongdoing (hit and run or whatever).

But be careful before proceeding with the settlement ... the person may have deliberately "disappeared" in order to charge her with "hit and run" and then extort a settlement beyond what would have been normally awarded for a plain old traffic accident. Try to determine what the chances are for your wife winning the case outright, as well as whatever countersuit can be launched against the other person (after all, they left the scene of the accident too).
 
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Thanks Jackolantern, lotechguy

Jackolantern, lotechguy thanks for sharing the information. I did discuss with the attorney yesterday and he feels it is just a simple case. All he told is on the arraignment day he would represent my wife and then plead 'not guilty', request time wavier and set a pre-trail date which would be some time in April '08.

In the mean time he was mentioning to discuss with the District Attorney and get the case dropped with a simple fine of around $100-$200 which is just fine. But he said that no matter what she has to be booked... in the sense that she would have to go get fingerprinted and photographed in the nearest county jail for records (this is what I don't like).

Coming to the other party not being available... seems she had a family emergency and could not wait and had to leave (her mother who was hospitalized expired two days later) her mother was not involved in the accident though.

Our attorney says that if the other person could not be found at the accident spot it is our responsibility to call 911 and notify the incident and then only leave the place...
 
Jackolantern, lotechguy thanks for sharing the information. I did discuss with the attorney yesterday and he feels it is just a simple case. All he told is on the arraignment day he would represent my wife and then plead 'not guilty', request time wavier and set a pre-trail date which would be some time in April '08.

In the mean time he was mentioning to discuss with the District Attorney and get the case dropped with a simple fine of around $100-$200 which is just fine. But he said that no matter what she has to be booked... in the sense that she would have to go get fingerprinted and photographed in the nearest county jail for records (this is what I don't like).

Coming to the other party not being available... seems she had a family emergency and could not wait and had to leave (her mother who was hospitalized expired two days later) her mother was not involved in the accident though.

Our attorney says that if the other person could not be found at the accident spot it is our responsibility to call 911 and notify the incident and then only leave the place...


There is something wrong in this picture. Why is the second person not charged with disappearing from the scene. And who filed the charges ? It must be this second person, so you should be able to get that second person to withdraw the charges. Please do not let yourself be fingerprinted. Even though you will get citizenship inspite of all this (no Federal court in the land will honor a naturalization denial based on a finding of bad moral character for a hit an run which has a proper case disposition, this is just absurd so the USCIS will never do such a foolish thing, they know the courts will admonish them) BUT your problem will be the pain of getting stuck in name check for several years during your citizenship. So consult another attoney, and find out if charges can be dropped.
 
In the mean time he was mentioning to discuss with the District Attorney and get the case dropped with a simple fine of around $100-$200 which is just fine.
Be careful of agreeing to a fine, and know exactly what it is for, because you don't want paying the fine to be interpreted by USCIS as an admission of criminal guilt. Hit and Run is a real crime and should not be taken lightly. Many noncitizens make the mistake of agreeing to pay a fine and accept a lesser charge (sometimes at the advice of their defense lawyer who isn't an immigration expert), then the USCIS sees that as guilt and then deports them. You need to speak to an immigration lawyer, not just a criminal defense lawyer.
 
There are criminal immigration attorneys, you need to consult with one. Where are you? We can try to recommend an attorney for you.
 
Be careful of agreeing to a fine, and know exactly what it is for, because you don't want paying the fine to be interpreted by USCIS as an admission of criminal guilt. Hit and Run is a real crime and should not be taken lightly. Many noncitizens make the mistake of agreeing to pay a fine and accept a lesser charge (sometimes at the advice of their defense lawyer who isn't an immigration expert), then the USCIS sees that as guilt and then deports them. You need to speak to an immigration lawyer, not just a criminal defense lawyer.

Good suggestion. When I got my GC my immigration attorney told me to get in touch with him on any matter concering law enforcement violations before speaking to anyone.
 
lotechguy: Well, the police have documented that the Second person waited and nobody turned up to exchange information and she left. Infact it was not she who called the cops but someone from the public saw and called the cops and passed on our vehicle information.

Jackolantern: Well, the attorney says that we have to bargain and pay fine in order not to go for trial. He says trivial cases like these will not be entertained for trail unless the other party really wants to do so. I know paying fine is kind of accepting it but we were told that this is the only way to go here or go for trail where there will be jury to make decision. If the case goes to trial the attorney fee would run into couple of thousands of dollars. I took your advice and I have made an appointment with Immigration attorney for Monday. Will write back after the discussion.

ftm: I live in the Bay Area, California. Please suggest any criminal immigration attorney.

Thanks in advance.
 
As I see it:
"She stopped to exchange the insurance information but did not find anyone approaching her ": Most people might call the police and wait until the police arrives and not deal directly with the other party. Your wife left the accident scene without checking if anyone has been injured and could be easily construed as fleeing the scence of the accident. Dropping the kid to school is not a good reason to flee the scene of the accident.

I could not understand your line " After dropping the kid to school she was on her way to the accident spot where she saw a police officer, she stopped the officer and ..." You mean she parked her car there and walked to the officer or what? You need to make clear in your defense that you returned to the accident and volutarily reported to the police to report the matter.

I think the issue is serious, and would suggest that you do your due diligence and not rely on your lawyer who could turn out to be incompetant. If I were you, I would study the law and hire an additional immigrantion lawyer before your criminal case lawyer recommends signing on any "deal".

1.
My wife met with an accident and she was at fault. She stopped to exchange the insurance information but did not find anyone approaching her and was getting late to drop the kid off to school (less than half-mile away from the accident spot) and left to the accident spot. However in the mean time someone followed her and marked the vehicle number and had called the cops.

After dropping the kid to school she was on her way to the accident spot where she saw a police officer, she stopped the officer and explained the situation and provided the insurance, driver license, registration and all necessary information. The officer collected all the information and let go after an hour of wait trying to locate the other involved party without success.

The other party has filed a criminal case as ‘Hit and Run’ for which we have been called for arraignment. Currently we have hired an attorney to plead NOT-GUILTY and set a pre-trail court date. Do any of you have expertise to tell us how much this would create an issue/s if any, when we apply for citizenship four years later. Is there something we need to take care of right now not to impact our citizenship process in future.

Thanks in advance.
 
If the case goes to trial the attorney fee would run into couple of thousands of dollars.
Defending your green card in court if they want to deport you could cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Please update us on what the immigration lawyer says. Make sure you see the actual law or court case that the lawyer's answer was based on, before you sign any deal with the prosecution. And consider getting a second opinion.
 
You will have to provide the court records when applying for citizenship. Whether it will hurt the citizenship case depends on the exact charges and whether there is a guilty verdict.

If the prosecutor offers a bargain to plead guilty in exchange for a smaller penalty, before pleading guilty make sure to seek advice from an immigration lawyer to determine whether it would be a deportable offense.

If found guilty, or found not guilty but the statements made in court could lead USCIS to make their own determination of guilt when reviewing the court records, again see a lawyer to find out of it would be a deportable offense. Unless she clearly wins the case, it may make sense to wait more than 5 years after the end of the court case, to make it be outside the 5-year "good moral character" window, since that would involve just a few extra months of waiting given that your GC got approved so recently.


Dear Friend:

What is 5-year " good moral character window? For my case, I was arrested by UC Santa Baraba for drinking under 21 years old. No charges afterwards, only a Dean's " Prohibition for drinking till 21". Do you think I need to wait for 5 years to win my " good moral character"?
 
Dear Friend:

What is 5-year " good moral character window? For my case, I was arrested by UC Santa Baraba for drinking under 21 years old. No charges afterwards, only a Dean's " Prohibition for drinking till 21". Do you think I need to wait for 5 years to win my " good moral character"?
You have to demonstrate "good moral character" for the 5 years leading up to applying for citizenship. It is preferable, although not absolutely necessary, that your record is clean during those 5 years.
 
You have to demonstrate "good moral character" for the 5 years leading up to applying for citizenship. It is preferable, although not absolutely necessary, that your record is clean during those 5 years.


Dear Jackolantern:

Do you think my under 21 drinking arrest will hurt my application for citizenship?
 
I expect it would hurt your case, but that's just my layman opinion. See a lawyer if you want a properly informed answer based on his/her knowledge and experience with others in your situation.
 
I expect it would hurt your case, but that's just my layman opinion. See a lawyer if you want a properly informed answer based on his/her knowledge and experience with others in your situation.



Dear Jacklolantern:

How much degree will hurt my application? Deny my application or deport me from USA? Tell me frankly.
 
Could delay, but not deport. If you have money to spare, you can give it a try before the 5 years is up.

Dear Jacklolantern:

How much degree will hurt my application? Deny my application or deport me from USA? Tell me frankly.
 
Could delay, but not deport. If you have money to spare, you can give it a try before the 5 years is up.



Dear Brb2:

Do you think I should wait for 5 years to apply my citzenship? It happended June, 2006. So I can apply in 2011?
 
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