Justia Montana Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Francisco Padilla-Canales, a Spanish-speaking undocumented immigrant, was arrested after breaking into a residence where his estranged wife was staying with another man, Lesman Escobar Andara. Upon discovering them together, Padilla-Canales stabbed Andara, who died at the scene. Padilla-Canales attempted to have his wife report the incident as a suicide and performed CPR until emergency services arrived. He was advised soon after arrest, in Spanish, that a conviction could lead to deportation, and signed documentation acknowledging this warning. More than a year later, he pled guilty to mitigated deliberate homicide under a nonbinding plea agreement.The Eighteenth Judicial District Court in Gallatin County, Montana, accepted Padilla-Canales’s guilty plea after confirming he understood the charges and potential penalties, and that there were no communication barriers due to language. However, at the change-of-plea hearing, the court did not specifically advise Padilla-Canales of the immigration consequences of his plea or confirm his understanding of those consequences, as required by Montana law. Both the State and defense counsel referenced his immigration status during sentencing, discussing that deportation would likely follow his prison term. The District Court sentenced Padilla-Canales to forty years in prison without parole restrictions.On appeal to the Supreme Court of the State of Montana, Padilla-Canales argued for the first time that his guilty plea was involuntary due to the District Court’s failure to properly advise him about potential deportation. The Supreme Court recognized the advisement failure but concluded that, in this case, Padilla-Canales was aware of the immigration consequences through discussions in open court and with counsel. The Court declined to exercise plain error review, holding that the record did not reveal a manifest miscarriage of justice or compromise the fairness of the proceedings, and affirmed the District Court’s sentencing order. View "State v. Padilla-Canales" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the order of the district court denying Appellant's application for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, ruling that holding individuals pursuant to a federal civil immigration detainer request is an arrest under Montana law and that a detainer request is not an arrest warrant and does not compel the re-arrest of a person otherwise entitled to release.Plaintiff was arrested and booked into county jail. When Plaintiff attempted to post his bond, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Border Patrol) sent the jail a civil immigration detainer request under the Immigration and Nationality Act and informed the bond company that the sheriff would continue to detain Plaintiff. Consequently, Plaintiff's bondsman declined to post his bond, and Plaintiff was not released. Plaintiff filed a complaint alleging that the sheriff violated Montana law in honoring the Border Patrol's request. The district court ruled against Plaintiff. The Supreme Court reversed in part, holding that Plaintiff's continued detention for a new purpose when he was otherwise entitled to release was an arrest under Montana law, and the sheriff lacked state arrest authority to detain Plaintiff on the basis of his potential removal under federal immigration law. View "Ramon v. Short" on Justia Law