Need help regarding hit and run

W

withoutgc

Registered Users (C)
I have been accused of hit and run yesterday. This was with a stationary car. I had no idea that I even scratched this other car!! The first court date has been set for April 19th. I become eligible to apply for my citizenship on May 2nd.
If I accept whatever plea bargain is offered, what are my chances of even getting citizenship now...I have no prior tickets/records with any DMV.
I will be using an immigration attorney for filing citizenship now with this complication.
Any suggestions/ideas/experiences please? We are extremely nervous with all this.

Thanks!!!
 
That's tough. I was involved in a similar hit and run case on the parking lot of a big supermarket. In my case I was the victim. I located the person through my insurance and never went to court. The old lady was so shaken, and the scratch wasn't that bad that I ended up settling things with her for a nominal amount of money completely out of court and out of the insurance process. I hope your case could have been handled in a similar way. Have you tried to contact the other side to see if you can agree to something out of court? You should probably consult the immigration lawyer now, he might tell you how to proceed with the hit and run case so it minimizes the impact on your naturalization eligibility.

Good luck.
 
Re:

Huracan,
I wish my story was more like yours!
I am distraught at the way I have been accused of this. It is totally unexpected now, and I am quite clueless on what my next steps should be other than ofcourse hiring an immigration lawyer and a criminal defense attorney. I wish there was a way to make this go away. But the first thing the other party did, inspite of determining who I was, was to file a hit and run. I dont know if I can contact the person and ask her to drop charges. Will that not be something like obstructing justice or paying off a case? Our only experiences with the court system are limited to Law and Order on TV!

Please respond.
 
My layman (strictly non-legal) opinion would be to seek legal advice immediately. At best, a consultation would cost $50 for a "first meeting", at worst, they would charge the full hourly rate ($200 ??????). I would hope there is a way out either by (a) reaching a settlement with the aggrieved party and/or (b) convincing your I/O that you remain a person of good moral character in spite of this incident.

With very best wishes for a successful outcome.
 
Quite possibly they filed charges in order to make sure their insurance paid out. Have you been able to establish whether it was your car that made contact with theirs or not?

As far as N-400 is concerned, yes its probably a good idea to have a consultation with an immigration laywer, but once the case has been disposed of, I see no reason you couldn't be naturalized. Certainly you'll have questions to answer during interview, but this kind of silly fender-bender stuff must happen all the time. Its not like you injured someone (I hope!).
 
Call your auto insurance agent and get them involved. The other person may be doing this to make money and could be just a scam.
 
I ran into a similar legal issue a while back. The options I had was take the cheap ($25) without trial offer ot defend myself($175/hr) in a trial. I had a minimum wage job back then and I chose the cheap option and the charges were dropped without trial but it is still hounding me to this date. I would have been a lot better in dealing with the USCIS if I would have taken the trial and defended myself. I knew I was not guilty.

My view...talk to the immigration attorney first and then to a criminal attorney first. Sometimes just being let of the hook is not enough.
 
Sultan,
Can you please elaborate on how this is hounding you in dealing with the USCIS? Are you having trouble for naturalization?
We do intend to hire an attorney next week, as soon as we get the police report. Should I hire an immigration attorney right now or after the first court date?
Thanks So Much!!!
 
I wish I could give you an opinion on when you should contact an immigration lawyer. My experience reading some lawyers comments it is that is better to consult them as early as possible, as they can tell you what type of court strategy is better for your immigration. Anyway, this is very vague. I think it is also good that you get your insurance company involved. It could be insurance fraud for all you know.

My 2 cents.
 
When you engage a lawyer, make sure that they understand the USCIS and immigration implications of whatever actions you take. You want to minimize the "legal" consequences but also the "immigration" consequences.
 
Re:

I have already involved my insurance company, and they should give me a letter this week stating that the other party has been taken care of in terms of fixing their car etc. The cops recommended that I take such a letter to the DA so that the DA sees that the minor scratch has been fixed, and I have not evaded any responsibility. All I can think of is that I am being scammed, but with the two "witnesses", I seem to have been pushed in a corner.
I am planning to hire a local Indian immigration lawyer right away, or would any of you advise me to hire Rajiv Khanna, who is so popular among us Indians? My concern is if the lawyer needs to accompany me to any USCIS interview then he needs to be local....
I plan to take the immigration lawyer's advise to the criminal lawyer so that the issue can be minimized during naturalization, whose application I will be filing just a few days after this court hearing.
I cant imagine the mess I am in!!!

Please advise
 
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