Arrest record during immigration?

[middlepath]

I'm in the process of applying for permanent residence via a convivencia.

I was stopped during a traffic stop and was accused of a felony and three misdemeanors. I was completely innocent. I pled no contest to a misdemeanor to avoid jail and my case was "adjudication withheld". Very common story in the US. Black guy gets stopped by the police, they can't find anything, they pin a bunch of stuff on him to make it legal because police get off on that.

I have an attorney who says they won't say no due to the case being a family-related case, but they might bury it in a pile and never look at it. Anyone have any personal experience with this? I'd rather not have to go back to the US. I don't fear being killed by police here.

 

[Pierre Smith]

Why would you plead no contest (which is guilty, and is really only an effective alternative to guilt in the context of civil liability) to a crime you are "completely innocent"? You were involved in a domestic in your car?

What actions is your attorney taking here in the US? Which state? How long ago did you commit the crime? Did you spend time in jail, if so, how long? A custodial sentence is typically worse.

 

[middlepath]

Why would you plead no contest (which is guilty, and is really only an effective alternative to guilt in the context of civil liability) to a crime you are "completely innocent"? You were involved in a domestic in your car?

I'm not here to adjust your world view, but it is extremely common for innocent black men to go to jail. We do worse than whites at trial, and my attorney arranged a plea deal. It is extremely common for innocent black men who do not want to go to jail to take a plea deal.

I'm not here to debate whether or not I was innocent (I am) or whether or not the criminal justice system is racist. It is, statistically speaking.

What actions is your attorney taking here in the US? Which state? How long ago did you commit the crime? Did you spend time in jail, if so, how long? A custodial sentence is typically worse.

My attorney's job is done. He was unemotional and didn't care what happened, really. Par for the course. Florida. Again, I did not commit the crime. If you'd like to ask a different question about how long ago I was accused of a crime I didn't commit, I'd be happy to answer your question. I spent 12 hours in jail, during which time the police officers dropped by to verbally harass me. I was given 12 months probation but my probation officer didn't think I should be there so she said whenever I get my community service done she would early terminate. It was early terminated in 9 months.

 

[sts7049]

me thinks there is more to the story here

 

[middlepath]

me thinks there is more to the story here

Nope, literally the whole story. Cut and dry, super simple. Exactly as stated. Racism in the US leads to wrongful arrest of black man and cops covering their tracks. Happens 20 times a day.

 

[Pierre Smith]

You're very touchy. Personally, I don't care whether or not you were guilty of the domestic, and you're right that I don't buy that an innocent guy is happily driving along "while black" when suddenly a bunch of jackbooted cops jack him up, and pop him for four fake domestic charges, to which he pleads guilty. Maybe it happened, but I'm skeptical.

Anyway, the length and date of your sentence are determinative of your timeline on the issue of expungement/vacating the sentence as post conviction relief. I'm not a criminal attorney, nor do I practice in Florida, but I know that it's harder there. Another issue there is that your mugshot is public, and companies there have figured out a great scam, which is to make it among the first things that pops up when people search you - it's a shakedown to pay them to take it offline, totally legal.

 

[middlepath]

You're very touchy. Personally, I don't care whether or not you were guilty of the domestic, and you're right that I don't buy that an innocent guy is happily driving along "while black" when suddenly a bunch of jackbooted cops jack him up, and pop him for four fake domestic charges, to which he pleads guilty. Maybe it happened, but I'm skeptical.

Anyway, the length and date of your sentence are determinative of your timeline on the issue of expungement/vacating the sentence as post conviction relief. I'm not a criminal attorney, nor do I practice in Florida, but I know that it's harder there. Another issue there is that your mugshot is public, and companies there have figured out a great scam, which is to make it among the first things that pops up when people search you - it's a shakedown to pay them to take it offline, totally legal.

I'm touchy because for every year of my life in the US, I have had to listen to people like you who are ignorant to reality (in the true sense of the word, not the derogatory sense). You haven't lived a day as a person of color and you have no idea what you're talking about. It happens every day, all the time, in every city. Ferguson has more bench warrants than people, for example. A white cop killed an unarmed black man in handcuffs in Minneapolis. A white woman called the cops on a black birdwatcher. There has been a system of oppression since 1776 and people with your mindset continue that system.

Now that we have camera phones, people are just starting to realize that racism still exists in the US. Whether or not it's convenient for you to believe is not my problem. I realize this board has a right wing bias. My point wasn't to start debating the fine points of politics. I simply wanted information. The fact that we're discussing whether or not I'm innocent really, really bothers me. Am I touchy? Yes. You try hearing "You're so well-spoken, where are you from?" and "Blue lives matter, too!" or whatever variant your whole life and see how you feel. Please, do some research and read some statistics man. You're ignorant and it shows.

 

[Pierre Smith]

I'm not going to argue with you, but with so few incidents (two or even ten is absolutely negligible) when, as you say, everyone has phones . . . to me this indicates that this behavior is nowhere near as prevalent as some people claim.

You're the one who brought up race - frankly, it would never have occurred to me to do so, nor even that any black American would ever end up down in Buenos Aires, where racism is certainly far worse than in the US. Then again, maybe that's my ignorance coming out again?

Your issues are straightforward: either get the conviction vacated, or find a way to explain it to the Argentine adjudicator, which will require the final disposition of the court, which will show that the probation term was completed. That should be apostilled as pretty much everything is required to be. This is definitely lawyer territory on the Argentine side, but on the American side, it's a snap to get that disposition.

 

[middlepath]

Thanks for the info.
I'm not going to get murdered by the police here. That's all I can say for racism in the US vs Argentina.

 

[Dougie]

Why not try to answer the guys question rather than interrogate if he did the crime or not?

Plea deals are common even if people are innocent. People take them because if it goes to trial and they lose for some reason they get screwed even worse.