A man who was a citizen of Egypt, working in the state of Connecticut, was charged with some very serious domestic violence charges:
53a-96 UNLAWFUL RESTRAINT 2ND DEG
53a-60 ASSAULT 2ND DEG
53-21 RISK OF INJURY TO CHILD
53-21 RISK OF INJURY TO CHILD
53a-181 BREACH OF PEACE 2ND DEG
53a-181 BREACH OF PEACE 2ND DEG
53a-181 BREACH OF PEACE 2ND DEG
53a-62 THREATENING 2ND DEG
53a-63 RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT 1ST DEG
53a-64bb STRANGULTN/SUFFOCATE-2ND DEG
The day he was arraigned, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (“ICE”) grabbed him, and he was deported shortly afterwards.
He retained me to represent him in New Haven Superior Court.
The problem was that, in Connecticut criminal courts, the defendant must always be present in order for the case to be heard, but he could not come back into the country as long as he had criminal charges pending.
Thus, there was a Catch-22: his case couldn’t be resolved unless he came back to Connecticut, and he couldn’t come back to Connecticut until his case was resolved.
The State’s Attorney did not want to drop the charges, arguing that because the man was Muslim, he would kill his wife in an “honor killing.”
I wrote a Motion to Dismiss to the judge and argued in the Memorandum of Law that this situation was untenable, and that if the State could not bring my client before the court, his charges should be dropped. (The State has an obligation to bring charges if it knows the location of an individual, which it did in this case). The State Attorney argued quite passionately that my client’s charge should remain active, even if it meant he never came to the country again.
After discussing the matter with the judge, we agreed that the State had one year to bring my client before the court, and if it failed, the charges would be dropped. Since it would take that long to deal with the ICE paperwork anyhow, my client was very pleased that his charges will be dropped, allowing him to apply to come back into the country.
The initial arguments took place in 2023, and will be resolved in 2024.
If you have a complex case and you feel your attorney is not serving you well, please reach out to me via my Contacts page.
