Receiving stolen property is not a sign of grave immorality and is not grounds for deportation, the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, ruled Oct. 16.
Their ruling affirms the 2009 precedent Castillo-Cruz v. Holder, that says receiving stolen property is a common theft offense.
Under current law, crimes that involve grave immorality, officially known as moral turpitude, can be grounds for deportation. To qualify as a crime involving moral turpitude, theft offenses must include “the offender’s intention to permanently deprive the owner of his property.”
The Castillo-Cruz ruling established that receipt of stolen property is generally not a crime of moral turpitude because a person can be convicted of the crime without being proved to have intended to permanently deprive the owner of the stolen property, the appellate ruling said.
The ruling came down in the case of The People v. Karla Vanessa Coca in San Bernardino Superior Court. Coca’s family moved her from Nicaragua to the United States in 1986, when Coca was 5 years old. Coca believed the immigration paperwork filed on her behalf made her a United States citizen.
It was under this misunderstanding that she pleaded guilty to receipt of stolen property in 2008. In doing so, she checked a box saying she understood that, if she were not a United States citizen, her guilty plea could result in her deportation.
She filed a motion to vacate the conviction in May 2022, arguing that her attorney did not properly advise her that her immigration status could be negatively affected by the plea.
The District Attorney’s Office opposed the motion, arguing that her conviction could not affect her immigration status because the crime did not qualify as having moral turpitude.
San Bernardino Superior Judge Michael Camber agreed with Coca, and vacated her conviction. The District Attorney’s Office appealed.
The Court of Appeal agreed with the prosecutor, and ordered Coca’s conviction reinstated.
San Bernardino Deputy District Attorney Heather Dwyer argued on appeal.
Whitney Ali of the Riverside Law Office of Zulu Ali and Associates represented Coca on appeal.
Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, Justice Frank Menetrez wrote the appeal, which Acting Presiding Justice Carol Codrington and Justice Michael Raphael joined.
Case No. FWV031104
Appellate Case No. E079703
Read the published appellate ruling here.
