Larry Craig So Wishes He’d Copped In Massachusetts

There is a statute that instructs judges considering plea bargains to make something along the lines of this statement:

"If you are not a citizen of the United States, you are hereby advised that conviction of the offense for which you have been charged may have the consequences of deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization, pursuant to the laws of the United States."

In Commonwealth v. Rodriquez, Mass. App. Ct. No. 06-P-1512, the trial judge said the following:

"You need to understand that a finding of guilt on this offense may mean that you will be deported from the United States, that you may lose your permanent residence, your green card, and that you may lose your right to remain in the United States lawfully. Do you understand that?"

Think that passed muster with the appeals court? There probably wouldn’t be a blog post about it if it had. Tom Tancredo and Lou Dobbs just gave each other awkward high fives somewhere.