How To Prevent A Misdemeanour Becoming An Aggravated Felony
Any immigrant who has been arrested and charged with a misdemeanour is in danger of that offense being escalated and used in future citizenship hearings. It may even be upgraded to become an aggravated felony which will make one inadmissible.
It is very important that you get the best possible defence you can. You are entitled to counsel provided by the state. However it is strongly recommended that you see if you can get counsel who is well versed in criminal and immigration law. An Immigration Lawyer in Los Angeles is well versed and likely to do the following sorts of things for you.
If you have been convicted then he will do his best to avoid a 1 year sentence. If the sentence is 364 days or less then you can avoid any aggravated felony conviction. But beware now. There is no statute of limitations in immigration law and if you receive another conviction before naturalization that puts your total jail time above 1 year then you are in danger of being assessed as an aggravated felon.
There are some other strategies that might work in serious felony cases. For example
• Suspended imposition of sentence, 364 days custody as a condition of probation
• 364 day sentence, execution suspended
• Two or more burglary counts, 364 days each, to run concurrently
• Delay the plea or sentence hearing while the client is in custody, and then waive credit for time served in exchange for a shorter official sentence. For example, if client was in custody awaiting hearing for seven months, at plea obtain a sentence of nine months waiving credit for time served, rather than a sentence of 16 months with such credit. See if you a lso can waive future “good time” credits.
• Identify an offense that will not become an aggravated felony even if a state prison sentence equal to or greater than 365 days is imposed. For example, possession of a knife is such an offense. Plead to that offense as the base term and take the burglary as the subordinate term, for one-third the time of the base term.
• If there is a parole violation and the threat of additional time being added to the original burglary conviction that would take the sentence imposed to over 364 days, instead plead to a new offense and take the time on that.
The important thing is to avoid getting the Aggravated felony on your record which will adversely affect your immigration status. The
Los Angeles Criminal Lawyer is an expert at keeping immigrants from the very harsh consequences of criminal convictions and ensuring that all are treated within the law and fairly.
The next thing is to keep oneself on the right side of the criminal justice system until one is a naturalized citizen of the United States.