Possession of Drugs for Personal Use Charges Dismissed On October 2015 Preventing Deportation
Kia Law Firm is pleased to report another successful win. This win has essentially guaranteed that our client will be able to remain in the United States despite an original 1994 conviction for possession of drugs for personal use. We received this case from a fellow Immigration lawyer who indicated that his client was on the verge of being deported back to his home country. This meant that our client, Pedro, would be forced to leave his three minor children here in the Unites States and leave. The government had provided a date in which Mr. Lora would be subject to deportation. Our staff, who actually never met with the client (as he was on the East Coast), immediately obtained a copy of his 1994 plea paperwork. Upon review of the charging documents and related records, we noticed that his rights were violated in 1994 when his plea was taken. As such, on August 7, 2015, we filed a Motion to Vacate his entire plea under Penal Code 1016.5.
A copy of the first page of our motion can be accessed by CLICKING HERE.
A copy of the court order granting the motion can be accessed by CLICKING HERE.
A copy of the 1994 drug charges can be accessed by CLICKING HERE.
On Friday, October 23, 2015, our motion was granted and the court dismissed the underlying charge that prevented him from remaining in the country. With the good news that we shared with the client, we were ecstatic, in shock and cried throughout the entire phone call when we told him the good news. His minor daughters, ages 6, 9 and 11 came on the phone to say thank you to everyone at our firm. It is cases like this that provide the moral compass to continue to represent clients for the better good. Motions to vacate are extremely hard to win. We are essentially going back in time and changing history within the court system.
Our office also believes in second chances. We do believe that people can make mistakes, but once they learn from them, they become smarter, more respectful and focus on being the best citizen possible. Here, we were able to able to modify a 21 year old criminal conviction (the only conviction our client ever had) to allow him to adjust status to that of a US Citizen.
If you, a friend or loved one has found themselves in any form of criminal trouble, contact Kia Law Firm for a free consultation at (951) 686-4818.