Padilla v. Kentucky

Strickland v. Washington is the exact case that defense attorneys in appellate courts still cite today when a conviction is being challenged on the grounds that the defense attorney simply just did a bad job.

And then Padilla v. Kentucky, 2010, a more recent extension holding that defense counsel must advise non-citizen clients about the immigration consequences like deportation of a guilty plea.

Put these cases together and they've built something over time that didn't meaningfully exist in America before the 1960s.

which is a universal, government-funded, constitutionally required criminal defense system.

For reasons unexplained, DHS initiated removal proceedings in 2011, and Mr. Aristy Rosa was ordered removed to where he's from, the Dominican Republic.

So began a series of attempts to get the old conviction vacated and removal proceedings reopened, not least of which because the Supreme Court issued Padilla v. Kentucky, explaining all the protections non-citizens, yes, even non-citizens, enjoy in criminal court.

That is, to be apprised of their legal rights and the consequences of their decisions to plea or not.

He even eventually got a pardon of the conviction, and even that couldn't save him because of the specific INA language.