NY Defendants Can Seek to Vacate Convictions Post-Deportation

On May 16, the First Appellate Dept. ruled in People v. Antonio Badia that it was improper to dismiss Antonio Badia’s 440 motion because the defendant had been deported.

IDP, along with the Post-Deportation Human Rights Project, filed an amici brief arguing that defendants should be allowed to litigate post-conviction relief cases after deportation.

The trial court had refused to look at the merits of the defendant’s post-conviction relief case, dismissing it only because the defendant had been deported after filing the case; and dismissed the case despite acknowledging that this placed the defendant in a catch-22, since the conviction was the reason for his deportation.