Tooby's California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

This volume is not intended as a substitute for the excellent practice materials already available concerning California post-conviction relief in general.  It is intended to illuminate those corners of the field that are of greatest importance to immigrants, and to help counsel understand the relationship between the different forms of California post-conviction relief, and the various immigration consequences of criminal convictions, so as to enable counsel to fit the right tool to the task.

            As less relief is available to immigrants with criminal records in immigration court, post-conviction work in criminal court takes on a greater level of importance.  Chapter 2 offers a brief outline of federal immigration law for criminal lawyers.  Initially, it is important to evaluate the chances of success in obtaining post-conviction relief.[9]  One of the most important issues lawyers face when assisting clients with problematic criminal convictions and sentences is determining when the prospect of vacating the conviction is hopeless versus when there is sufficient chance of success to justify the effort and expense of consulting with an expert or performing a full-scale investigation.

            Potential grounds for invalidity of criminal convictions is a subject as broad as all of criminal law.  The vast majority of criminal defenders practice in the trial courts, attempting to avoid convictions and sentences in the first place, and they may be relatively unfamiliar with grounds of invalidity of criminal convictions and sentences that can be used on appeal and in post-conviction litigation in an effort to set them aside.

            The intent of this book is to provide counsel with some idea of what post-conviction counsel can accomplish in California criminal courts, and of the general nature of some of the more common grounds for invalidity of criminal convictions and sentences.[10]  Sometimes counsel may be placed in the position of attempting to vacate a criminal conviction directly; on other occasions, counsel will work together with specialists on this project.  In either event, some familiarity with potential grounds of invalidity may prove useful.  Finally, immigration counsel may wish to provide this information to cooperating criminal counsel as suggestions for possible grounds of invalidity that may be sought in an individual case.

[9] See Chapter 3, infra.

[10] See Chapters 7 (invalidity of convictions) and 8 (invalidity of sentences), infra.