Thread: Singing Irish Bartender Loses Deportation Ruling

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 2677.story

Singing Irish Bartender Loses Deportation Ruling
Decision that blocked expulsion for Westminster man convicted for role in a 1988 murder in Belfast is overturned.
By H.G. Reza
Times Staff Writer

September 1, 2006

A Seal Beach bartender who has charmed patrons with his singing in a thick Irish accent can be deported for his role in the murder of two British soldiers 18 years ago, an immigration appeals board has ruled.

The ruling overturns a 2004 decision by an immigration judge who blocked deportation of Sean O'Cealleagh.

But the ruling, reached Wednesday by the Board of Immigration Appeals in Virginia, does not mean that O'Cealleagh, an Irish citizen, will be booted out of the country any time soon. The case, and the fate of the bartender, now returns to Immigration Judge Rose C. Peters for a second hearing, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

O'Cealleagh, a 37-year-old Westminster resident, is known as the singing bartender at O'Malley's bar in Seal Beach. He was convicted by a British court in 1990 for aiding and abetting in the killing of two British corporals who were at the funeral of an Irish Republican Army member in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1988. He was not charged with killing the soldiers but facilitating their murders.

He was sentenced to life in prison but was released in 1998 and made his way to the U.S., where he became a permanent resident in 2001. At the time, he disclosed his conviction to U.S. authorities. He is married to a U.S. citizen and has a young son.

In February 2004, O'Cealleagh was detained at Los Angeles International Airport after returning from a trip to Northern Ireland by immigration officers who said he never should have been allowed in the U.S. in the first place because of the conviction and began deportation proceedings.

Two months later, after a four-day trial, Judge Peters rejected the government's efforts to deport O'Cealleagh, ruling that his conviction in a British court was for a "purely political offense." He was released from custody in May 2004 on a $15,000 bond while the government appealed her ruling.

The appeals board overruled Peters in a nine-page decision that said a conviction for a purely political offense would involve "baseless, trumped-up or fabricated charges" and that was not the case in O'Cealleagh's situation. Instead, the board said he was charged with "aiding and abetting" the murder of two soldiers and that the "offense was not fabricated."

"There is no question that the murders of the victims occurred, and there was evidence that [O'Cealleagh] played a role in violently leading the soldiers to the park" where they were killed, said the board's ruling.

But Jim Byrne, O'Cealleagh's attorney, said the appeals board also expressed concern about his client's conviction. The ruling said O'Cealleagh's role in the killing "may not have satisfied the concept of aiding and abetting under United States law."

"This indicates that they had a problem with his conviction in a British court," said Byrne, who maintained O'Cealleagh's innocence.

"We've argued all along it's a purely political offense. He was incarcerated for an offense he didn't commit. There's no doubt that two soldiers were murdered, but the issue is whether the conviction was fabricated," he said.

Byrne said he would prepare for a new hearing before Peters, which has not been scheduled. O'Cealleagh's legal options in the future will be determined by the hearing's outcome, he said.

Kice said immigration officials had not initiated deportation proceedings.

"This is not the last chapter in this case, but it's an important legal victory for us," she said.


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gil.reza@latimes.com

He was sentenced to life in prison but was released in 1998 and made his way to the U.S., where he became a permanent resident in 2001. At the time, he disclosed his conviction to U.S. authorities.

Just goes to prove, we have some serious flaws in our immigration system.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la ... s-politics

O.C. Bartender Linked to N. Ireland Murders Deported
A long federal campaign targeting Sean O'Cealleagh ends a saga that began with an IRA funeral in 1988.
By H.G. Reza
Times Staff Writer

September 26, 2006

A Seal Beach bartender who charmed patrons by singing Irish ballads was deported Sunday, one month after an immigration appeals court ordered him removed from the United States for his role in the murder of two British soldiers 18 years ago.

Sean O'Cealleagh was returned to Ireland aboard a commercial flight under the escort of two federal immigration officers, U.S. officials said. His deportation ended a nearly three-year effort by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to remove him from the United States after giving him permission to live here in 2001.

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said O'Cealleagh's removal came three days after an immigration judge in San Pedro signed the final deportation order. This month, a federal judge had denied a petition to allow him to remain free while he contested deportation, Kice said.

O'Cealleagh, 37, who lived in Westminster, is married to a U.S. citizen and has a young son. His family did not accompany him back to Ireland, Kice said.

A British court convicted him in 1990 of aiding and abetting the murders of two British corporals in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The soldiers were pulled from their car and shot at an Irish Republican Army funeral in 1988, according to an ICE news release.

Sentenced to life, he was released after eight years and immigrated to America. He had lived in the U.S. legally for three years when immigration officers detained him at Los Angeles International Airport in February 2004 upon his return from Northern Ireland. Immigration authorities said he should never have been allowed into the U.S. because of his conviction.

An immigration judge in April 2004 blocked the government's effort to deport him, ruling that his conviction was for a "purely political offense." The government appealed and an immigration appeals board overruled the judge in August.

A few days after the board's ruling, O'Cealleagh was taken into custody and jailed until his deportation. Immigration Judge Rose C. Peters, who initially blocked O'Cealleagh's deportation, signed the removal order Thursday.

His attorney, Jim Byrne of San Francisco, did not return calls Monday.

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hgreza@latimes.com