Debartolo v. United States, No. 14-3579 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseDeBartolo, 48 years old, immigrated to the U.S. at the age of one, but never applied for U.S. citizenship. He is married to a citizen and his children are citizens. He has no family in Italy and does not speak Italian. In 1996 he was sentenced in an Indiana court to eight years in prison for dealing in cocaine. In 2011 he was indicted in federal court for possessing with intent to distribute more than 100 marijuana plants and manufacturing more than 100 plants, 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1). DeBartolo powered the lighting used to grow the plants with electricity that he stole from the electric company. . Because he helped the government to apprehend other drug dealers and pled guilty to manufacturing, the government moved for, and the court imposed, a below-minimum sentence of 25 months. There was no mention of deportation, but his conviction made him deportable and precluded cancellation of removal, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43), 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii), (B)(i), 1229b(a)(3). After he completed his sentence he was removed to Italy. While his removal was pending he sought habeas relief, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel in his criminal case, because his lawyer had failed to warn him that if he were convicted he could be deported. The judge denied the petition. The Seventh Circuit reversed, stating that the government should consider whether having served the recommended prison sentence, having then languished in INS custody, and being deported, DeBartolo has been punished sufficiently.
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