In Gonzalez v. United States, No. 19-11182 (William Pryor, Hull, Marcus) (Nov. 20, 2020), the Court affirmed the denial of a petition for coram nobis as untimely.
The petitioner sought relief after removal proceedings were commenced, arguing that he received ineffective assistance of counsel about the immigration consequences of his criminal conviction from over a decade earlier. Reviewing for clear error, the Court upheld the district court’s determination that the petitioner failed to provide sound reasons for delay. The Court found it fatal that the petitioner’s counsel made a tactical decision to delay because he did not believe that petitioner would actually be removed under the immigration policy then in effect.
