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Deportation Appeal Law
Rober Amsel
08/13/07
In Brendlin v. California, one of few unaminous decisions from the Supreme Court in the 2006 term, the Court held that an automobile passenger is "seized" for purposes of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution when the vehicle is subjected to a traffic stop by police. The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. Accordingly, if it is determined that there was no lawful basis for the stop of the vehicle, the passenger may complain and seek suppression of any evidence of crime found in the car or on his or her person as a result of the unlawful stop. The Robbins Tunkey law firm successfully litigated this issue in the 1988 Florida case State v. Montano, 527 So.2d 916 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988).
One of the most pressing issues facing immigrants is the previously uncontemplated consequence of being deported as a result of having a criminal case in court. In Peart v. State, 856 So.2d 42 (Fla. 2000), the Robbins Tunkey firm helped establish the right of these persons to have their previous criminal convictions vacated if there were not properly advised of possibility of deportation by the judge, or if their attorneys misadvised them the resolution of their criminal cases would not affect their immigration case. In his 2006 article for the St. Thomas Law Review, Robbins Tunkey partner Bob Amsel explores the legal avenues available for vacating state court convictions and the wrinkles in the rapidly evolving law in this area. |
