Judge stalls guilty plea of homicide-linked immigrant over likely deportation

A Canadian judge hit the brakes on a guilty plea from a non-citizen linked to a homicide and facing serious criminal charges, citing discomfort with the fact that the accused would likely be deported.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

A Canadian judge hit the brakes on a guilty plea from a non-citizen linked to a homicide and facing serious criminal charges, citing discomfort with the fact that the accused would likely be deported if found guilty.

Victor Bueron, a 22-year-old Filipino national, was set to plead guilty to multiple charges stemming from a high-risk takedown by Barrie police earlier this year. He was arrested on January 17 along with several co-accused after officers stopped a vehicle in a north-end plaza and allegedly found drugs and firearms inside.

Bueron is also facing an unrelated manslaughter charge in Toronto in connection with a fatal stabbing.

Despite the accused’s willingness to plead guilty and insistence that the court proceedings move forward on the gun and drug offences, Superior Court Justice Vanessa Christie shelved the proceedings this week, concerned over the immigration consequences of a conviction.

Christie paused the case, saying she was not satisfied that Bueron had consulted with an immigration lawyer or fully understood how a conviction could affect his status.

“We are not experts on immigration law,” Christie said, adjourning the matter until next Monday for a video appearance.

Specifically, Christie expressed discomfort proceeding without confirmation that Bueron had obtained proper legal advice on the potential immigration and citizenship fallout that could come with his guilty plea.

Christie was appointed as a Judge of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario by former prime minister Justin Trudeau in 2019.

Bueron, who immigrated to Canada just over a decade ago from the Philippines, would likely face automatic removal from the country upon conviction, given the seriousness of the offences and the anticipated sentencing.

The Crown and defence lawyer Fairiborz Davoudi were expected to recommend a joint sentence of three years, well above the deportation threshold under federal law.

This isn’t the first time an Ontario judge has spared a convicted non-citizen offender from consequences out of concern for immigration status.

In June, Ontario Court Justice Paul O’Marra gave Indian foreign national Akashkumar Narendrakumar Khant a conditional discharge—despite Khant pleading guilty to attempting to buy sex from what he believed was a 15-year-old girl. The judge openly admitted that he wanted to avoid delaying Khant’s citizenship or preventing him from sponsoring his wife.