In this Ramsey County Criminal Domestic Violence case, Mr. Keller’s client was a prominent Hispanic artist from Minneapolis. The artist had been convicted of Violating an Order for Protection (VOFP) from an incident almost 10 years ago in 2001. When Mr. Keller’s client applied for citizenship, he was denied citizenship based on this 10-year old incident in which his client plead guilty with another attorney and the charges were later dismissed in 2003 after probation was successfully completed. Even though the client had no conviction for VOFP on his record, his previous guilty plea alone was enough to cause ICE (successor agency to INS) to deny the client citizenship and a renewal of his green card! As a result, Mr. Keller filed a Motion to Withdraw the Guilty Plea, got a Ramsey County Criminal Judge to schedule a hearing within less than a week of Keller Law Office’s filing the Motion, and subsequently got the Ramsey County Criminal Court to grant his Motion to Withdraw his client’s Guilty Plea, and then convince the St. Paul City Attorney’s Office to Dismiss the revived criminal charge against his client. Thus there was nothing left on his client’s record whatsoever. The client and his American born wife were extremely happy and were no ready for the Client to renew his citizenship application and become a U.S. Citizen so that he could continue his career in art and teaching art to young people.
Posts Tagged ‘OFP’
Keller Law Offices Wins Justice for Another Immigrant in Getting a Guilty Plea Withdrawn and Criminal Charges Dismissed in Ramsey County
Monday, May 24th, 2010Justice for Young Man Depressed Due to Divorce
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009My client in a Hennepin County case was accused of three violations of a Domestic Violence Order for Protection (OFP). All had happened in the space of 2 1/2 months, including the first incident when he was in the hospital for mental illness evaluation. He had a good job as a diesel mechanic, held a CDL (commercial driver’s license) and drove a bus, and had no prior criminal convictions. Unfortunately, he violated the OFP 3 times because he was depressed and obsessed with his estranged wife who had obtained the OFP. He also had chemical dependency issues involving alcohol & marijuana. As a result of the third alleged violation, my client was arrested and held in custody for 8 days. At the next court appearance, I was able to convince the judge, who originally wanted to sentence my client to 20 days, to give the young man time served of 8 days due to his mental illness and no prior criminal record, and the need to attend to a large number of medical appointments. At the end of the day on September 28, 2009, my client was released from Jail to go to his medical app0intments and he and his parents were very happy. (27-CR-09-40051)
