You are a criminal defense attorney. The below-listed client hires you to defend her. Identify the immigration issues in the fact pattern and devise a plan to best defend her. To earn full credit please include in your essay: Identify and discuss the immigrant status that your client has. Determine if there is an immigration consequence to the alleged criminal activity. Describe your duties to your immigrant client under Padilla under this fact scenario. Devise a plea bargain that could be executed to avoid immigration consequences for your client. If convicted as charged to this offense what waiver or immigration defense could be available to your client? FACTS: Mary Jones is an LPR from Jamaica. She has been an LPR for 10 years. She is a single mother of a 10-year-old daughter Alice who was born in the U.S. Alice’s father is a Jamaican and lives in Jamaica. Mary works full time as a cashier at Publix where shopping is expensive. She lives in a clean 2 bedroom apartment in Ft. Lauderdale Florida. Mary is an excellent mother and employee. On the date of the incident, Mary had the night shift at Publix. She was waiting for Alice to get home from school. Alice was late and Mary became worried. She called the school and talked to Alice’s teacher. The teacher told Mary that Alice missed the bus because she had to serve a detention for talking in class. Mary called her boyfriend Alex to pick up Alice. Mary left for work and received a text from Alex. The text stated that Alex picked up Alice and would baby sit her until she got home from work. When Mary came home she asked Alice why she missed the school bus. Alice lied and stated that she stayed after school to help her teacher and lost track of time. Mary knew that her daughter lied. It was not the first time that Alice had lied to her mom. Mary told Alice that she had spoken to the teacher and that she knew what really happened. Mary disciplined her daughter the same way she was disciplined as a child. She used a belt and hit Alice 4 times for lying. Alice apologized for lying and promised to be truthful in the future. Alice went to school the next day. The teachers saw belt marks and called the police. As a result, of the police report, Mary is charged with a third-degree felony Child Abuse. Mary hires you. You discover that she has never been arrested before and has no prior criminal record. Mary tells you she is not a U.S. citizen and that she has been an LPR for 10 years. The Assistant State Attorney offers Mary a plea bargain of 18 months’ probation and a withheld Adjudication of guilt. What is your advice to Mary?
