The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of Honduran native Jose Padilla in Padilla v. Kentucky today [pdf], deciding that his right to counsel was violated when his lawyer told him pleading guilty to drug possession would not lead to deportation. Previously, two convictions for drug possession were the equivalent of drug trafficking if you're not a natural born citizen, and could lead to deportation even for legal residents. The law also prohibited courts from granting any exceptions. This interpretation of the law had already been rejected by four judicial circuits, including New York's, but approved by courts in Louisiana and Texas.
The New York Times follows the story of a Long Island man who spent three years in a Texas jail, fighting deportation, because of a 2007 possession of one marijuana cigarette. Jerry Lemaine had been caught with marijuana as a teenager, but the case had been dismissed. This time, his lawyer advised him to plead guilty and take the $100 fine. But Lemaine, a legal resident who left Haiti at age three, was accused of drug trafficking, and was sent to jail in Texas. There, a judge said the violations made him a “recidivist felon” ineligible for bond, even though his first offense had been dismissed. He spent three years in Texas before returning to New York on suspended release.
The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which covers Louisiana and Texas, said it would wait for the Supreme Court decision before ruling, but Lemaine could go before the same Texas judge and could still be deported. However, deportations to Haiti have been suspended since the earthquake, so Lemaine would most likely spend more detention time in Texas.
