Dallas Bar Association
HEADNOTES
Focus Immigration/International Law
June 2018 Volume 43 Number 6
DBA Hosts Mock Voir Dire
Bar None XXXIII Presents Suemanji: Welcome to the Courthouse BY MICHELLE M. ALDEN
Thank you to the volunteers who helped make the Law Day Committee’s Mock Voir Dire a success. Held at the George Allen Courthouse on April 27 for more than 175 Dallas ISD students, the event addressed the Separation of Powers. Special thanks to event organizers Law in the Schools & Community Vice-Chair Mary Walters and Judge Martin Hoffman. The opening panel consisted of (left to right): Ms. Walters, United States Attorney’s Office; Michael Hurst, DBA President; Judge Hoffman, 68th District Court; John Bryant, former Congressman; Hon. Reed O’Connor, U.S. District Court; and Steve Fahey, USAO Criminal Chief.
Focus
Immigration/International Law
Crimmigration Update: Recent Changes BY JERED DOBBS
The Board of Immigration Appeals, the administrative appellate body for the nation’s immigration court system, has issued a number of noteworthy rulings within the last year touching on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. It should be noted that the definition of a “conviction” for immigration purposes is considerably broader than the definition of a conviction under Texas law. The relevant provision of the United States Code defines a “conviction” for immigration purposes to include, among other things, findings of guilt by a judge or jury as well as pleas of guilty or no contest leading to deferred adjudication. Turning to the Board’s recent rulings, of particular interest to Texas attorneys is the Board’s September 2017 decision in Matter of Mohamed, a case dealing with the immigration effects of pretrial diversion agreements. Prior to Mohamed, many immigration judges considered pretrial diversion agreements to fall outside the United States Code’s definition of a “conviction” for immigration purposes, since they involve neither a finding of guilt nor (usu-
ally) a formal plea of guilty or no contest. Thus, these agreements gained a reputation for being a relatively safe option in terms of immigration consequences. However, in Mohamed, the Board reminded readers that the statutory definition of a “conviction” for immigration purposes also includes an alien’s admission of facts sufficient to warrant a finding of guilt. In Mohamed, the alien’s pretrial agreement in Liberty County, Texas included an admission of guilt “tethered to the facts and offense elements charged in the indictment.” The Board ruled that the document constituted an admission of facts sufficient to warrant a finding of guilt. Mohamed established that a Texas pretrial diversion agreement qualifies as a conviction for immigration purposes where the alien admits facts sufficient to warrant a finding of guilt at the time of entry into the agreement. Therefore, criminal defense attorneys must now exercise additional care before counseling clients to enter into any kind of pretrial agreement involving a stipulation of evidence, plea memo, admission of guilt, or other similar instrument
Join the cast and crew of Bar None June 13-16 as they present Bar None XXXIII – Suemanji: Welcome to the Courthouse. This is the 33rd year for the Bar None variety show and it promises to be the best show yet. Watch Dallas area lawyers and judges sing, dance, and make you laugh so hard your sides hurt. As much as the cast and crew love performing and making people laugh, their real motivation is to support the Sarah T. Hughes Diversity Scholarship program. The scholarship program was established in honor of U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes, a former trustee of the Dallas Bar Foundation, who devoted herself to improving the rights of women and minorities. The Hughes Scholarship provides tuition and fees for deserving minority students each year. Students at SMU Dedman School of Law, UNT Dallas College of Law, and Texas A&M School of Law are eligible to apply for the scholarship. The Dallas Bar Foundation takes its responsibility for finding deserving recipients seriously. If you have ever met a Hughes
Scholar, you know how impressive these students are. Support them by coming to Bar None. Thousands of volunteer hours go into putting on such a large production each year. The hours come from lawyers all over the metroplex including 33-year veteran Director Martha Hardwick Hofmeister and Producer Tom Mighell, as well as the choreographers, script writers, committee members, actors, and numerous behind-the-scenes staff. All of these Bar Noners share a passion for making a difference in the lives of the Scholars, our legal community and, for a few hours, the audience members. Show your support for the Dallas legal community and the Hughes Scholars by heading to the Greer Garson Theatre on the SMU Campus June 13-16. To purchase tickets, visit www.barnoneshow.com, or contact Elizabeth Philipp at (214) 220-7487 or ephilipp@dallasbar. org for sponsorship and ticket information. HN Michelle Alden is the Director of the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program and a Member of the Marketing Committee of the Bar None Production Company. She can be reached at aldenm@lanwt.org.
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