A plea agreement guaranteeing issuance of a judicial recommendation against deportation [JRAD] is not violated by subsequent changes in federal law repealing the JRAD statute, expanding the basis for deportation, and exposing appellant to deportation. In 1987, appellant, a legal permanent resident of the United States, pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter on condition the court issue a JRAD. At the plea hearing, the court issued a standard immigration admonition. Appellant was thereafter granted probation, with 365 days in jail and the court issued the JRAD. At the time, issuance of a JRAD precluded the federal government from removing the subject from the United States. In 1990, the JRAD statute was repealed and the definition of aggravated felony was expanded to include crimes of violence resulting in a term of imprisonment of at least one year. Sometime prior to 2004, appellant applied for citizenship but in 2005, the Department of Homeland Security, ordered his deportation. The trial court granted appellant relief by modifying his sentence to 364 days. The appellate court reversed, holding that there was no violation of the plea agreement as the JRAD had issued, and the record did not reflect that appellant had ever been specifically promised he could not be deported.
Case Summaries