wife and young mother accused of domestic violence

J

jj007

New Member
Deportation issues :wife and young mother accused of domestic violence

Deportation issues:domestic violence
Hi
I'd really appreciate you help.
I have a conditional Gc and have to remove the condition in 9 months. I am married to USC and we have a USC child together. I have been charged with Domestic Violence.
My husband is in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome(AS) or high functioning autism. He is also under a lot of influence of his mother, who hates me and wants me to get deported.
There was an accident during our argument and his elbow got hit. Nothing serious, just a bruise. After he lef our house he went to his mother place who persuaded him to go to ER to get his arm "checked". In the ER he told the nurse that I hit him, the nurse called the police, police came and told him to right a report. Due to his AS he has a hard time understanding of what is going on and what are the consequences. He is naive and gets easily intimidated. I believe in my heart the he did not know what he was doing.
So, he writes the report stating that i hit him, he said he felt intimidated and entrapped. I got arrested the same day and spent night in jail.
Next business day he went to the police station and wrote that he had an error in judgement and what happened was an accident.
Nevertheless the prosecutor refuses to drop the charges and case is going to trial very soon.
I've been told by immigration atty that I have options to not be deported:
- go to trial and win (if chances are good- but there is always a risk)
- get the case dismissed(if the key witness(my husband) will be absent
or if he takes 5th amendment against self-incrimination and will not be
testifying
- (edited) get a deferred adjudication disposition, (not a deferred sentence)
- get charges reduced to Disorderly Conduct and plead Non Contest to it

I've also been told that dom.violence is always deportable.
The trial is very very soon.
Please help me with your insights as I am debating over those options and wondering how they'd affect GC, eligibility for USC, and deportation issues.
Thanks a lot for reading.
God bless you
 
Last edited by a moderator:
When your husband went back to the police station the second time to say it was an accident, was there anybody to document it? I think thats the key to prove that your husband is a little unbalanced. If you have a documentation of that, I suggest you sue the city or town you live in of Gross Negligence of evidence(or something like that). The prosecutors usually settle for a plea bargain when they can't prove what you did or when they are on hot water for prosecuting you. So your lawsuit and your husband not being able to provide the witness will actually force the prosecution into plea bargain..thats what I would do if I were you..
 
Thanks a lot, Crazy_Newjersey for your reply.
Yes, when he went to police station 2nd time, he wrote a statement that it was an accident to the investigator. Investigator seemed satisfied with that and if it'b up to him, I'm sure he'd drop the case. The problem is with prosecutor. Actually on our first pre-trial he offered a plea bargain of 6 month probation and record expunged afterwards. If I'd be USC it'be no problem, BUT the things is, what I've been told by several immigration attorneys, immigration operates very differently from criminal courts. Immigration consideres it AS A CONVICTION when:#1 conviction , #2 plea bargain of guilt or non contest, even though the record in criminal court is expunged.
So plea bargain to Domestic Violence in this case in the eyes of immigration is a grounds for deportation, unless it is a plea to Disorderly Conduct, which is also a misdemeanor. So I was wondering if anybody knows how that affects GC and ultimately USC?
Also does anybody know what is deferred sentence and how it affects GC and USC?
Thanks a lot.
 
Deferred sentence requires you to plea guilty first, then during a
period, if you do not do anything illegal, the charge will
be dismissed and you don;t get a conviction record.
But if the immigration consider a guilty plea to be the
same as a conviction anyway, then you should
comnsult with immigration law before going for defered sentence.
 
Dont plea guilty!!

Prosecutor is a lazy ass and he wants conviction without any work. Go to trial . If you plead guilty you will be deported.

This has happened before and even a pardon from the governor cannot overturn it.
 
on the negative side, this issue is serious enough to warrant a planned and cautious approach. on the plus side, it is not so complicated or even serious in its details that it should be unresolvable.

your best bet is to have two lawyers working in concert with you: an immigration and a criminal attorney. one good way to go about it is to actually get a very good immigration attorney who understands the situation, and get them to find a competent criminal attorney that they are comfortable in working with. in order to start your search for a competent immigration lawyer, you can use the american immigration lawyer association or AILA's referral service (www.aila.org). this service will match the specific needs of your case to a lawyer with the required specialization. you will be able to find a lawyer who specializes in deportation cases, and if they feel they need to, they can get the help of a criminal attorney as well. often a large and reputable legal practice will have all kinds of specialist lawyers on their panel. be prepared to part with some money, though. if you are lucky, you could get some pro bono help from a large law firm, a certain quota of which they are required to do as an obligation to the courts.
 
Making myself clear!!

In the last reply I was not clear. Getting a deffered judgement is same as conviction as far as USCIS is concerned. There was an Yemeni man who pleaded guilty with court supervision. He was eventually deported and even a pardon from the governor could no save him.

If your husband is not willing to cooperate the prosecutor has no case. This will not got to trial in that case.

Dont plead guilty to anything.
 
Thank you all SO MUCH for your responses.
First of all, I want to correct my self on "deferred sentence" thing, I actually was very confused. After consulting again today with immigration atty, I found that is was "a deferred adjudication disposition without a guilty plea", which will not be considered a conviction. I am sorry for confusing you guys.
Thanks, Pork Chops on info on attneys. The thing is that the trial is the beginning of next week, and it is too late to switch attys.I am hoping and praying that the prosecutor will go for "deferred adjud.disposition"thing.If not, have to go to trial.
I was also wondering if anyone knows if the key witness ( my husband) will not make himself available to subpoena, what could happen? I've been told that the case could be dismissed, BUT the prosecutor could refile charges AGAIN, since there would be no "double jeopardy" immunity. Does anyone know?
Thanks.
 
jj007 said:
BUT the prosecutor could refile charges AGAIN, since there would be no "double jeopardy" immunity. Does anyone know?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Double jeopardy kicks in after the jury swear in in a jury trial or
the first evidence is presented in a bench trial. If the case
is dismissed after that, one can ot be tried again for teh same
offense in teh same jurisdiction. If your case is dismissed
before reaching to that point, then you can be prosecuted again
but I doubt that will happen.
 
Thanks everyone for your help!
Also wishing everyone lots of luck in their business with immigration.
My husband was not yet subpoenaed, I'm still wondering if the trial will take place. So, AmericanWannabe, you think that the prosecutor will not likely to file charges again? Do you guys think that it is worth it for my husband to "not be availble" for subpoena and get the case dismissed?
Thanks.
 
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