I'm going to blame the rainy (and cold) week for putting a damper on the publication of opinions by the California judiciary thus far. Only one Ninth Circuit opinion, and only two California Court of Appeal opinions, all week. Them's slim pickins.
But today's Ninth Circuit opinion nonetheless reveals a nice little dispute. The question is what it means for two crimes to arise "out of a single scheme of criminal
misconduct" sufficient to get you deported from the country. Mr. Szonyi got extremely drunk one day and, over a five- to six-hour period, forced three women to commit various sexual acts. Since Mr. Szonyi is formally a citizen of Hungary (who came to the United States in 1957, when he was four years old), even though he's been in the United States for over 60 years, that means he's subject to deportation. Unless the crimes for which he was convicted arise (under the statute) out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct.
Judge Clifton writes the majority opinion, holding that Mr. Szonyi is out of luck. He thinks these are discrete crimes against different women. Judge Fisher dissents, and thinks that these might perhaps be a single scheme of criminal conduct, with no real "pause" in the offenses sufficient to allow Mr. Szonyi to reflect. (As Judge Fisher puts it, "On this record, I would grant the petition for review and
remand for the BIA to adequately explain its decision. BIA
precedent clearly requires a “substantial interruption”
between offenses, and Szonyi squarely placed this issue
before the BIA. The BIA, however, did not address it,
leaving us to speculate whether the BIA disregarded the
“substantial interruption” requirement, in contravention ofits
own precedent, or concluded that there was a “substantial
interruption” between offenses in this case, but without
saying so and without pointing to anything in the record to
support that conclusion.")
See which opinion most closely fits your own views. But, at least at this point, Mr. Szonyi is going to be deported from the country in which he's lived the past 60 years.
