Chicago boxer Andrew Golota may face deportation

Retired heavyweight, a legal immigrant, could be deported because of years-old conviction


June 25, 2012

Andrew Golota, one of Chicago's best-known boxers, was once within a few low blows of winning a world heavyweight title. Now his family says he's facing his biggest fight in years — deportation.

Golota, 44, a Northbrook resident and national hero in Poland, learned two years ago that he was in deportation proceedings, court records show.

The retired boxer was born in Poland, is married to a U.S. citizen and has spent the past 21 years as a legal permanent resident in the Chicago area. He made millions as a heavyweight title contender who fought Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe and others.

A decision on the deportation case is expected in September, said Golota's wife and attorney, Mariola.

"It's this big, black cloud that's hanging over our family," she said.

Golota had filed paperwork to become a U.S. citizen, which would have triggered a criminal background check. Immigration law allows noncitizens to be deported for committing crimes of "moral turpitude." After learning when he returned from a trip abroad that he was facing deportation, Golota tried to erase two state-court convictions.

A Will County judge agreed last year to reopen and erase a 9-year-old misdemeanor conviction, but Golota's legal maneuvers weren't successful in Cook County, where he pleaded guilty in 2006 to a case involving a dozen firearms found in his home, records show.

Experts said it's not unheard of for misdemeanor guilty pleas to be reversed on cases from before 2004 — the year Illinois statute was changed to require judges to inform defendants of the immigration consequences of pleading guilty.

Mariola Golota said her husband didn't receive special treatment in getting his Will County case dismissed but instead is being treated more harshly because of his celebrity status.

"People think athletes and celebrities should be treated more harshly," she said. "Nobody wants to be in a position to say, 'We screwed up, we never should've charged him.' I get it … nobody wants to say, 'We made a premature decision.'"

Andrew Golota had pleaded guilty in Will County in 2003 to impersonating a police officer by flashing an honorary New Jersey police badge after being pulled over by state police for running a stop sign in Bolingbrook.

Last year, more than eight years after the case had been closed, Golota asked to reopen it and withdraw his plea, alleging that he wasn't notified of the immigration consequences of pleading guilty.

Chief Judge Gerald Kinney granted the request and appointed a special prosecutor. Two months later, on Nov. 30, the prosecutor and Judge Marzell Richardson agreed to essentially erase Golota's earlier conviction. On the same day, the boxer instead pleaded guilty to running a stop sign, a petty offense.

Golota's attorneys said the case was dismissed because special prosecutor David Neal found there wasn't enough evidence to prove the original charge. Neal could not be reached for comment.

"The special prosecutor took a look at the case and made his own conclusion that he couldn't approve the charges," said Golota's Joliet attorney, Daniel Kallan. "Even if (Golota's) a nobody, if the facts were the same, I think the result would be the same."

Pengtian Ma, a Bridgeport attorney who handles many immigration cases, said it's not unusual for cases to be tossed when defendants haven't been told what could happen if they plead guilty, an opinion echoed by other immigration attorneys.

Immigration-court judges have discretion in cases involving "moral turpitude" convictions, though there are other factors that may play a role, said Sioban Albiol, a clinical instructor at DePaul University's Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic.

In some situations, the judge has no discretion and can't balance a misdemeanor conviction against an immigrant's life since — no matter how many years have passed or how productive a legal immigrant is.

"It's a very harsh, in my opinion, system," Albiol said. "It would be better if the judge had more discretion."

Golota also filed a motion in Cook County to reopen and dismiss his 2006 case involving the firearms found in his home by police investigating an unrelated complaint. Golota's firearm owner's identification card had been temporarily revoked, and he was charged with 12 misdemeanor counts of unlawful possession of a weapon.

He received six months of court supervision, paid a $3,600 fine and gave up the 12 guns, which authorities destroyed. Golota completed his court supervision in 2007, and the case was closed for more than three years.

But in that case, he had been advised of the immigration consequences of pleading guilty. His wife filed a motion seeking to overturn the conviction based on the Supreme Court ruling striking down Chicago's handgun ban, an argument courts have not been receptive to.

She later withdrew the motion, and records show nothing else happened with that case.

Mariola Golota said her husband was smart with his money and remains a multimillionaire with varied business interests. He is paying his two children's tuition for private high school and college. She said Golota is here legally on a green card, pays his taxes and is not someone the government should be looking to deport. She declined to make him available for an interview.

After a successful amateur boxing career that culminated in a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Golota moved to Chicago in 1991 and turned pro, training at the Windy City Boxing Club on the West Side.

He is best known for his July 1996 Madison Square Garden bout with Bowe, which ended in a riot after Golota was disqualified for throwing punches below the waist. The boxers squared off later that year, with Golota again controlling the fight before being disqualified for throwing low blows.

Golota fought Tyson in 2000 but quit after the second round, leaving the ring at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich., as the crowd booed and threw beer and popcorn at him.

Now retired, Golota cut a commercial for the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010, appeared last year on Poland's version of "Dancing With the Stars" and is scheduled to wrestle — not box — Bowe later this year.

His wife said being in immigration court is a lot like being in the ring for her husband.

"You're fighting for your life," Mariola Golota said. "You can have 10 immigration lawyers, but it's just you fighting. Every wrong thing, things you didn't do or do — everything in the ring gets revealed.

"I'm just hopeful that it's going to turn out OK. It's kind of out of your hands. Andrew paid dearly for whatever he did. You pay once when you plead guilty and then you pay again, and that's much harsher."

sschmadeke@tribune.com

Chicago boxer Andrew Golota facing possible deportation - chicagotribune.com