Criminal Law Withdrawn charges: Inquiry

[Pal_]

Nyclex: I have a friend who were charged for two counts( arose from single incident). he pleaded gulity to count 1 and 2nd count was withdrawn by prosecutor in montreal, Canada.

Question, He is applying for adjustment of status ( trying to get green card ), does immigration in usa consider withdrawn charges too. he talked to attorny in usa, attorny said, withdrawn charges by prosecutor are history, they do not play any part in immigration process because there is no conviction? is that true.

Thanks,
pal

 

[NYClex]

it usually depends on the circumstances, but if as you said it arose from one and the same incident, then the attorney probably is right.

 

[Husty]

I've read some about this and understand that dropped charges can only be consulted under very limited circumstances when there's a divisible statute of conviction that may or may not have negative immigration consequences. The CMT analysis must focus on the statute of conviction and not the general conduct of the offender. There's several notes I read about how some decisions are reversed because the Judge consulted dropped charges to establish a particular conduct. I'm not a layer so this is just my personal interpretation.