Paredes

I.

INTRODUCTION

Felipe Dejesus Paredes pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 1987. At that time, Paredes was a legal permanent resident of the United States. As part of the plea agreement, the trial court agreed to issue a judicial recommendation against deportation (JRAD). Under then existing federal law, the JRAD precluded the federal government from removing Paredes from the United States. After accepting Paredes’s plea, the trial court granted Paredes probation, subject to various conditions, including that he serve 365 days in custody.

Federal law pertaining to immigration consequences for convictions for certain criminal offenses subsequently changed. As a result, Paredes became potentially subject to removal from the United States. After the federal government obtained an order directing Paredes’s removal, Paredes filed a motion in the trial court in which he claimed that the People had breached “the no deportation promise” contained in his plea agreement. Paredes requested various forms of relief, including that his initial sentence be vacated, and that he be resentenced to 364 days in custody. Paredes contended that a sentence of less than a year in custody…