Earlier this week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that criminal defense lawyers are obligated to warn immigrant clients of any deportation risks they face as a result of agreeing to a plea bargain.
The case concerns Jose Padilla, who in 2001 was arrested in Kentucky with 1000 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle. Padilla was born in Honduras but had lived in the United States for 40 years and was a legal permanent resident, even serving in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.
Padilla's attorney at the time incorrectly told him that his guilty plea would not result in deportation. But as soon as Padilla finished serving his prison sentence, the federal government moved to return him to Honduras because his immigrant status meant that conviction of the felony would be grounds for deportation. Padilla appealed, arguing that his Sixth Amendment right to counsel had been violated since his attorney had improperly advised him.
The Court agreed with Padilla that his attorney's incorrect advice led him to enter a guilty plea that was not in his interests. But the Court went further. John Paul Stevens wrote in his majority opinion that defense attorneys must explain deportation risks to their immigrant clients. "The severity of deportation -- the equivalent of banishment or exile -- only underscores how critical it is for counsel to inform her noncitizen client that he faces a risk of deportation."
Whatever your citizenship status, if you're faced with criminal charges, you need a quality defense attorney who knows the law.
Padilla v. Kentucky (2010)
"Court Requires Warning About Deportation Risk," New York Times, March 31, 2010
