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Keywords

jurisdictionappealhearingwillfelonyimmigration lawdeportation

Related Cases

Grageda v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Facts

Petitioner Alvaro Palafox Grageda, a Mexican citizen and legal resident of the United States, was convicted in California state court of violating California Penal Code 273.5(a), which makes the willful infliction of injury upon a spouse a felony. After his conviction, the INS initiated deportation proceedings. Grageda requested continuances for his deportation hearing while he pursued a petition for writ of error coram nobis to expunge his conviction, arguing that his conviction was not final. The immigration judge ultimately denied his requests and ordered deportation.

Grageda is a Mexican citizen and legal resident of the United States. On June 4, 1986, he was convicted in California state court of violating California Penal Code 273.5(a), which makes the willful infliction of injury upon a spouse a felony.

Issue

Whether spousal abuse is a crime of moral turpitude upon the basis of which an alien can be deported.

We must decide whether spousal abuse is a crime of moral turpitude upon the basis of which an alien can be deported.

Rule

A criminal conviction may not be considered by an IJ until it is final. Once an alien has been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction and exhausted the direct appeals to which he is entitled, his conviction is final for the purpose of the immigration laws. Crimes of moral turpitude are traditionally defined as acts of baseness or depravity contrary to accepted moral standards.

Once an alien has been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction and exhausted the direct appeals to which he is entitled, his conviction is final for the purpose of the immigration laws.

Analysis

The court found that Grageda's conviction was final because he had exhausted his direct appeals and the pending coram nobis petitions were collateral attacks. The court applied the definition of moral turpitude, concluding that spousal abuse under California Penal Code 273.5(a) constituted such a crime due to its willful nature and the harm it inflicted, which was contrary to American ethics.

Grageda appealed his conviction to the California Court of Appeal and lost. Thus, he has exhausted his direct appeals to which he is entitled. Pursuing collateral measures, Grageda then filed his first petition for writ of error coram nobis, which the state court denied. A second coram nobis petition was pending when the deportation hearing occurred. But, because Grageda had exhausted his direct appeals and because the coram nobis petitions were collateral attacks, his conviction was final.

Conclusion

The court affirmed the deportation order, holding that Grageda's conviction was final and that the immigration judge did not abuse his discretion in denying the request for a continuance.

Because Grageda's conviction was final, the IJ did not abuse his discretion in denying Grageda's request for a continuance. Because willful injury of one's spouse under California Penal Code section 273.5(a) is a crime of moral turpitude, we affirm Grageda's deportation order.

Who won?

The United States, as the court affirmed the deportation order based on the finality of Grageda's conviction and the classification of spousal abuse as a crime of moral turpitude.

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