Clemency Requested For Aussie Man Fears Deportation Over 1986 Assault Conviction

The state clemency board said Friday it would ask Gov. Gary Locke to pardon an Australian man who could be deported for an assault conviction 12 years ago.

William Marel does not currently face deportation proceedings. His attorney called Marel’s request for a pardon a “preemptive strike” against the possibility that he could be forced to leave the country under changed immigration laws.

In 1986, Marel saw two boys riding dirt bikes on his property in Issaquah, east of Seattle in King County. He tried to scare them off by firing a shotgun, and some of the pellets struck the boys’ legs. Marel served 60 days in a work-release program on a second-degree assault conviction.

Under new immigration laws that took effect two years ago, Marel’s conviction would be considered an aggravated felony, and he could be deported.

Members of the Clemency and Pardons Board ruled unanimously that Marel shouldn’t pay such a high price. They noted that Marel, who moved to the United States in 1974, is married to an American, has bought property and, with the one exception, avoided trouble with the law.

Deportation proceedings “would be an undue hardship on you,” board member Margaret Smith told Marel.

“When you get to my age, you start to think about your retirement,” the 51-year-old Marel, a software engineer, said after the board’s decision. “If I was to be deported, I’d probably retire in Australia in poverty.”

The 1996 immigration laws included three major changes: more crimes could be considered grounds for deportation; the laws became retroactive, so a person could be deported for a crime committed before the laws took effect; and the person being deported could no longer seek a waiver in immigration court.

The new laws are “extremely Draconian” and have resulted in more lawsuits and more people being detained when they try to enter the United States, said Marel’s lawyer, Nicholas Marchi.

“The law was written hastily, and now we’re having problems with it,” he said.

A ruling on the retroactive part of the law is pending in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the board had considered waiting until after the ruling to decide Marel’s case. But they ruled in his favor because Marel - an only child who handles his ill father’s financial affairs - might have to return to Australia quickly in the event of a medical emergency, and he feared difficulty returning to this country.

The board’s decision came one day after the state legislative session ended. Lawmakers sent the governor more than 400 bills, which he must sign or veto by April 4. Locke probably won’t decide whether to pardon Marel before then, said the governor’s legal aide.