Gari

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Bernard Gari became a naturalized citizen of the United States on October 4, 1989. That same day, in support of his petition for citizenship he had previously filed on March 14, 1988, he filed form N-445A in which he asserted he had not, inter alia, “knowingly committed any crime or offense, for which [he had] not been arrested” since filing the petition.

In May 1993, defendant pleaded guilty to 10 counts of child molestation; he admitted he committed five offenses against S.S. on five separate occasions between January 1, 1989, and April 21, 1991, and admitted he committed five offenses against A.S. on five other separate occasions between January 1, 1989, and July 30, 1991 (collectively, the guilty pleas). The trial court accepted the guilty pleas and sentenced defendant to a six-year prison term.

In April 2010, federal authorities initiated proceedings to revoke defendant’s citizenship on the ground “[t]wo of the ten counts of child molestation to which [defendant] pleaded guilty occurred before October 4, 1989, the day [he] submitted his N-445A” and took the oath of allegiance.

Defendant filed a motion in Orange County Superior Court, in…