DIRECT APPEAL CANNOT BE DISMISSED BASED UPON THE APPELLANT’S INVOLUNTARY DEPORTATION.
The Court of Appeals determined defendant's direct appeal should not have been dismissed based upon defendant's deportation, even though there was no relationship between the matter on appeal and the deportation:
We recently … held “that [People v] Ventura [(17 NY3d 675 [2011])] prohibits intermediate appellate courts from dismissing pending direct appeals due to the defendant's involuntary deportation, regardless of the contentions raised by the defendant on appeal” … . We further explained that “[o]ur holding in Ventura did not depend upon any causal relationship between the defendant's conviction and deportation” … .
Here, the Appellate Term erred as a matter of law insofar as it granted the People's motion to dismiss defendant's direct appeal from his judgment of conviction because he was involuntarily deported. This error requires reversal. People v Morales, 2016 NY Slip Op 08397, CtApp 12-15-16
CRIMINAL LAW (DIRECT APPEAL CANNOT BE DISMISSED BASED UPON THE APPELLANT'S INVOLUNTARY DEPORTATION)/APPEALS (CRIMINAL LAW, DIRECT APPEAL CANNOT BE DISMISSED BASED UPON THE APPELLANT'S INVOLUNTARY DEPORTATION)/DEPORTATION (CRIMINAL LAW, DIRECT APPEAL CANNOT BE DISMISSED BASED UPON THE APPELLANT'S INVOLUNTARY DEPORTATION)