Not Guilty of Aggravated Rape and Approved Immigration Bond

One day in March, 2016, the police appeared at John’s house when he got home from work and arrested him.

When he was at the police station they told him that he was being charged with aggravated rape for an incident that, allegedly, occurred three months earlier. They also informed him that the person accusing him was his ex girlfriend and the mother of his children.

John was paying child support and had filed a complaint for child custody that was served on his ex girlfriend 4 days before she went to the police.

His family was able to get him released on bail by the criminal court and John was referred to FitzGerald Law Company’s criminal law practice to get help with his criminal case. After attorney FitzGerald met with John and reviewed the criminal record and the police reports, he instructed John to keep working, paying his taxes, paying child support and appearing at the family court to try to get custody of his children.

In October, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) went to John’s house and arrested him because he was without legal immigrant status. John’s family immediately contacted our law firm, because they knew our immigration lawyers also practiced immigration law and they wanted our firm to represent him in the immigration case as well.

Our criminal and immigration lawyers filed an immigration Motion for Bond in the Immigration Court to get John out of jail, but the Immigration Judge refused to release him because of the serious criminal charge that was pending against him. John’s criminal trial date was getting close and if he was not transferred to State Court he would not be able to prove that he was not guilty and he would likely be deported from the U.S.

It was clear that in order to get out of immigration custody, John had to win his criminal trial. He soon encountered another problem. The Federal Government would not transport John to the State Criminal Court for his hearings and would not give Attorney FitzGerald adequate access to his client to prepare him for trial.

It was then, when Immigration and Criminal Attorney Desmond FitzGerald filed a lawsuit in Federal Court for John to be transferred to the State Court for his Jury Trial. Finally, just 10 days before the trial was scheduled to begin, our client was transferred to state custody, and Attorney FitzGerald, was able to meet with John in jail and prepare him for trial.

On the first day of trial, the government notified the Court that a friend of the victim, who was not present when the rape was alleged to have occurred, would testify about the incident.

The Judge initially ruled the witness could testify, but criminal defense lawyer FitzGerald filed a Motion to Exclude her testimony (“First Complaint”) the following day. After reviewing the police reports and hearing testimony, the Judged granted the motion and excluded the witness.

The trial lasted for more than a week, John presented strong and credible testimony in his defense, and Attorney FitzGerald convinced the Jury that there were inconsistencies in the testimonies of the government witnesses and lack of evidence. As a result, John was declared not guilty by the Jury.

After the trial, ICE took him into custody again , but he was released because our immigration law firm proved to the Immigration Court that John was not a security risk for the community, but instead he was a contributing member or the community, because he had followed our experienced immigration lawyers instructions from the beginning by paying child support, continuing to work and filing his taxes properly, among others.

If you need a criminal defense and immigration lawyer, call our office and schedule a consultation with one of our experienced attorneys in Boston at (617) 303-2600 (ext. 0) or request the appointment online. We can help you and you family with any legal matter related to personal injury, criminal defense or other immigration process.

Our Immigration and criminal lawyers have a Successful track record serving the Massachusetts Community for over 20 years with all their legal needs in Immigration and Criminal Law.