November 2, 2015 CLE Presentation
7:00-7:15pm
By Law Amendement Voting and Announcements
7:15-7:35pm
I. The Value of Communication Between Criminal and Immigration Counsel-20 minutes (Will be discussed throughout the presentation at various stages) – all four speakers
- Factors Criminal Attorney’s Should Keep in Mind- Removal and Relief; PD; Mandatory Detention
- Challenging Removal; Preparing for Merits Hearings; Preparing Bond Applications
7:35-7:50pm
II. Criminal Procedure Overview- The Basics of Arrest Through Resolution-15 minutes – (David Cohen and Derek DeCosmo)
- The Bail Process
- Restrictions of Post Indictment Negotiation
- Effective Plea Negotiation From the Non Citizens Perspective
7:50-8:00pm
III. Bail Procedures in Immigration and Criminal Law-10 minutes(all four speakers)
- Immigration Bond: ICE v. IJ
- Criminal Bail- Surety Hearings
8:00-8:15pm
IV. Analyzing Criminal Arrests Within the Context of PD and the ICE Priorities Memo- 15 minutes (Genia Blaser and Nyasa Hickey)
- Obtaining the Certificate of Disposition
- How to read a RAP Sheet- Relevant Information
- The Value of Transcripts and Court Files
- A look at specific crimes and safer alternatives
8:15-8:30pm
VI. Conviction Defined- 15 minutes (all four speakers)
- Differences in Criminal and Immigration Law
- An examination of Judicial Diversion
8:30-8:45pm
VII. Detention-15 minutes (Genia Blaser and Nyasa Hickey)
- Local ICE Detainer Laws and Policies
- Risks of ICE Detection Within The Criminal System
- Locating a Client in Custody- Criminal and Immigration
- Mandatory Detention
8:45-9:00pm
Questions
Genia Blaser
Genia Blaser is a Staff Attorney with the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP). At IDP, Genia trains and advises criminal defense and appellate attorneys as well as family court practitioners on the immigration consequences interaction with the criminal justice and family court systems. Genia came to IDP from The Bronx Defenders' immigration practice, where she both advised criminal and family defense attorneys of the immigration consequences of their cases and represented noncitizens in removal proceedings before EOIR and in applying for affirmative benefits before USCIS. Genia received her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law in 2011. Previously, she worked with the Legal Aid Society's Immigration Law Unit and Criminal Appeals Bureau, the Pro Se Litigation Office of the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, Asylum Access Ecuador, and Sanctuary for Families. Genia holds an undergraduate degree from Hampshire College where she studied immigration patterns and Latino communities. She is fluent in Spanish.
Nyasa Hickey
Nyasa Hickey has been a staff attorney in the Immigration Practice at Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) for over four years. She provides advice to Criminal Defense Practice attorneys and clients on the best possible criminal defense from an immigration perspective and helps to devise strategies to minimize the immigration impact of clients’ criminal proceedings. Nyasa also represents clients in removal proceedings and provides assistance to individuals applying for affirmative immigration benefits.
Nyasa holds a B.A. degree in both English and Black Studies from the State Universityof New York at New Paltz and participated in Bard College's Globalization and International Affairs (BGIA) Program. Nyasa then worked for two years as the ProgramAssistant of New York University Center for Dialogues: IslamicWorld-US-The West. In 2011 Nyasa graduated from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where she received the Stanley H. Beckerman Public Interest Award and Cardozo’s Public Law Advocacy Week (P*LAW) INSPIRE Award. During law school Nyasa focused on gaining practical experiences in human rights issues internationally in Tanzania, Rwanda and Haiti, as well as domestically in prisoner’s rights, immigration and criminal defense advocacy.
Derek A. DeCosmo
Derek A. DeCosmo has worked in both the private and public sectors on behalf of New Jersey's immigrants. Derek regularly represents immigrant clients in criminal and municipal court proceedings. He also represents immigrant clients before the United States Citizenship & Immigration Service, the Administrative Appeals Office, the Immigration Courts, the Federal United States District Courts, and Circuit Courts of Appeal. During his time in government, first as an aide and later as Deputy Chief of Staff to Congressman Robert E. Andrews, Derek worked to ensure the rights of immigrants in criminal and immigration matters. In 2008 Derek established DeCosmo Law, LLP, a law firm specializing in Criminal-Immigration matters. After years of practicing general Immigration Law and working on immigration issues from a public policy standpoint, Derek decided to concentrate his practice on the defense of immigrants in both removal and criminal court proceedings. When he started his firm he was the only attorney in the seven most southern counties of New Jersey concentrating in this area. Derek served for two years as Public Defender. In 2013 Derek joined Zucker Steinberg & Wixted a well-established criminal defense firm in Southern New Jersey. In 2014-2015 Derek served as Chairman for the New Jersey Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Derek regularly presents CLEs on issues related to the representation of immigrant clients in criminal and municipal court matters.
David Cohen
As head of the criminal division of Cohen Forman Barone, David Cohen brings more than 20 years of experience, integrity and excellence to the defense of each and every one of our clients. Having protected more than five thousand individuals and companies over two decades from the awesome powers of law enforcement, he has honed his negotiation and litigation skills to excellence. In the last several years, David has been the lead attorney for CEO’s of large multi-million dollar companies causing multiple indictments to be dismissed for lack of evidence, successfully negotiated to not have charges brought at all and convinced law enforcement to cease investigations that would have otherwise put hundreds of employees out of work.
As a former prosecutor, David possesses a commanding, intimate and unparalleled knowledge of the workings of law enforcement. It was with this knowledge base, being in meetings discussing the who, what and whys of prosecuting that David learned who, what and why government agents choose to investigate and charge. This allows him not only to protect those who are being charged, but, just as importantly, to guide, advise and shield others from ever being prosecuted.
In his nearly two decades working as a defense attorney, David has persuaded multiple juries to acquit men facing a lifetime behind bars, successfully argued to more than a dozen judges that suppression of evidence was warranted because law enforcement acted illegally and demonstrated to prosecutors that charges were not warranted in hundreds of cases varying from fraudulent business enterprises and conspiracy to drug selling, weapons possession, domestic violence and countless other alleged crimes.
David graduated Boston University School of Law in 1994. He was a prosecutor in NYC from 1994-1996 and has been a defense attorney ever since. Since 1995 David has been an adjunct professor at the University level teaching hundreds of college students the art of negotiation, persuasion and public speaking.