Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: criminal and immigration

You'll only get one shot at it and, with the stakes this high, do you really want to bet it all on your pro per skills?

Re: criminal and immigration

You are quite on the money as to how to remedy this problem, assuming that the record DOES show that no such advisement was given. You would need to check the docket (assuming it still exists) and the court reporter's notes, if they still exist, to show that the advisement was not given.

There might be other alternative or additional grounds to try to get this judgment vacated. I have used the writ of coram nobis to vacate convictions on a number of occasions, including for immigration purposes. You could even follow up with a petition to establish factual innocence, in order to obliterate the arrest record as well, if there are any grounds.

Considering how important this issue is to your father, is it wise to attempt it yourself? Have you researched the case law under 1016.5?

If this case was by any chance in the San Francisco Bay Area I could help him with this. You can also read up on factual innocence petitions on my website at

http://lawyer-expungement.com/petition.htm

and

http://lawyer-expungement.com/results.htm

If He has remained arrest free since 1978, you can expect state court judges to be more sympathetic to him than the Feds. It is amazing how technical minded the Feds are on these issues. They once wanted to deport a client of mine because he served a year in jail on a misdemeanor. After I vacated the conviction and had the judge reimpose sentence for 364 days, the Feds were pleased as punch to deem him a worthy U.S. resident.

Re: criminal and immigration

He might be able to get the conviction expunged, but that helps only for private employment applications; not for your current purposes. Vacation of conviction under 1016.5 would help him, but that process is not assured of success, nor is a petition for factual innocence. Both of those require good research, pleadings, supporting evidence and persuasive argument. If you're competent to do that for him to file as pro per, sure, do it. Otherwise, you should have experienced counsel assist. If this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me.