Monthly Archives:' June 2016

The Complexity of Aggravated Assault and Immigration

Aggravated Assault Case with Some Immigration Complications

Today in court I had a couple of cases I was working on.  The one which took up most of my morning was actually me trying to get off of an aggravated assault case.  A family hired me to help their family member who was charged with a serious felony.

We went back and forth for days trying to get him to bond out.  The problem was it involved an aggravated assault case that needed a protective order (restraining order).  In these types of aggravated assault cases they don’t put a bond until the individual sees a judge.  So finally he saw a judge and a bond was set, along with a court date.

The family was able to get the funds to bond him out, but unfortunately once he made it to the county jail from the processing center an Immigration ICE hold was placed on him.  An ICE hold is basically a federal hold placed under someone’s name that makes it impossible to bond them out.  They are held in the county jail until their case is over.  Once their case is over they are sent over to the federal immigration detention center where deportation proceedings are commenced.

Many times if we can “win” the criminal case, and if the individual has a clean record otherwise, there are certain immigration defenses that can help the person once they are with immigration.  Unfortunately, in this aggravated assault case the defendant has prior convictions that make him deportable from the country.  So even if the criminal case were to be dismissed, he would still be looking at being deported.

In these situations my job is the same, do the best I can to assist him in the criminal case.  At the end of the day, he is still facing a charge that carries a range of punishment from 2-20 years in prison.  If he gets sentenced to jail, he will have to serve that before he ever gets to immigration. Based on what I learned about the case, this person has a very good defense.  I was eager to help, but when the family found out that no matter what happens he would be deported, they decided it was best to just proceed with a court appointed lawyer.  I understand, and I wish that client the best.

Possession of Synthetic Marijuana

My other case was a possession of synthetic marijuana case and it was a quick reset as we are still waiting on some important evidence.  Tomorrow I have a very interesting new case with unique issues.  Time to start preparing for that.

Case Results

  • Felony Aggravated Assault w/ Deadly Weapon – Withdrew from the case
  • Felony Possession of Synthetic Marijuana – Reset

Prostitution and Assault Family Member Case Results

Case Results for June 16th, 2016

The two main cases I handled today were a prostitution case and an assault-family member case. I had an interesting, and I would say successful day in the criminal courthouse.

Prostitution Case

The prostitution case was a tough one to defend.  It involved a sting in the community where undercover officers posed as prostitutes and lured individuals in.  My client unfortunately made a bad decision and went down to the hotel where a bunch of officers were eagerly waiting to arrest him.

I was very fortunate to have a DA in this particular court that took a step back, looked at the entire situation, and made a judgement call that not only benefited the community in the short term, but also benefited my client in the long term.  Today we were able to walk out of the court with a dismissal.  My client took an aids awareness class, did community service, and the case was dismissed.  He was very, very pleased with the outcome.  The last step will to be to get this case expunged.  Prostitution can be a very embarrassing charge to have on your background check when you are applying for jobs!  So even though this prostitution case was dismissed, the arrest record will still show up.  So our work is not done, but we will hopefully clear everything up for him in the near future with the expunction.

Assault / Family Member Case

My other case today was a bit different.  The assault-family member case absolutely did not make any sense. There was zero evidence to arrest my client and there was actually even more evidence to show that he was the victim. I had a talk with the DA who agreed there were problems with the case and agreed on a dismissal with conditions. This should have been an immediate dismissal, however, the DA asked for him to take an anger management class before he dismissed it. Now in certain situations we would reject that offer, but in this situation it made more sense for my client to just suck it up and do the class, in order to get it dismissed faster (which reduced the amount of days my client has to miss work).

The District Attorney

Sometimes DA’s do the right thing and work with us like they did in the prostitution case where the defense might be more difficult, and sometimes defense attorneys agree to mitigation classes on cases that should be straight dismissals (also for the greater good).  You have to take the good with the bad, it evens out.  At the end of the day, the outcome (preferably a dismissal!) is the most important part.

2 cases, 2 dismissals, I got to say it was a good day.

Today’s Results:

  • Misdemeanor Prostitution – Dismissed
  • Misdemeanor Assault-Family Member – Set for Dismissal