A
twenty-five-year-old young family man and manager of a local fast food
restaurant was charged with a felony non-violent crime. He did not
have a lot of money to hire a private attorney and therefore was appointed a
public defender. He eventually had two public defenders on his case
who negotiated what he thought was a good deal for him.
This
young man is a lawful permanent resident of the United States and he repeatedly
asked if he would be deported to El Salvador, a place he had not been to since
he was a young child. One of his friends was recently deported to El
Salvador and was promptly killed by the MS-13 gang there.
The
public defenders said that he may be deported but they were not sure and that
he would have to consult with an immigration attorney. They suggested
he take the plea deal because it meant that he would not get any prison time,
even though it would be a felony conviction. He took the deal and
was returned to his family and his job.
Three
months later, immigration officials arrested him and put him in lock-up for
deportation to El Salvador. This young man knew no one in El
Salvador and faced the prospect of being killed or joining a vicious gang to
survive. Likely, he would never see his newborn child again.
While
he was in lock-up, his family looked for an attorney to help him and found my
friend attorney David Jacks. David
tried many procedures and filed documents with both federal immigration court
and criminal court
in Las Vegas. His task was daunting and many criminal
defense attorneys he turned to for guidance, including me, were skeptical that
he could get results. Over the next three months David
optimistically worked every week on the case until he was able to get the
Nevada criminal court in Las Vegas to reopen the case and overturn the
conviction. This post-conviction relief is a very difficult criminal
procedure in Nevada and rarely is accomplished.
To
David’s credit, owing to hard and persistent work on the case, he succeeded in
getting the conviction overturned and the crime reduced to a non-deportable
offense -- a misdemeanor. Once Las Vegas, or the State of Nevada,
reduced the charge, the federal immigration court had no choice but to release
the young man.
After
three months being locked up and facing almost certain deportation to a country
where death or horror awaited, David Jacks’ work returned the young man to his
waiting family. Moreover, because the conviction was reversed, this
young man can pursue US Citizenship, after which he will never face deportation
again.
Later,
the young man gave David a big hug and said, "You saved my
life."
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| Attorney David Jacks with happy client |
