FL: Attorney Suspended After Conviction for Trying to Keep Partner in US

Eric Affholter, an attorney who practices in Pompano Beach, has had his law license suspension upheld by the Florida Supreme Court, based on Affholter's arranging a fraudulent marriage designed to make his partner, a Peruvian man, a legal resident. It was a real-world consequence in the often abstract debate over whether same-sex partners should have the right to legally marry. Late Monday, I left a message for Affholter on a voicemail box he shares with his partner, Pedro Cerna-Rojas. I hope to hear back today, and when I do I'll post it on the blog. The felony marriage fraud case against Affholter dates to 2007, and it was filed in a court in St. Louis, Missouri, where he had been assistant public defender. After the jump, excerpts from a local news report about Affholter's case. According to local news reports, Cerna-Rojas had been staying in the U.S. on a student visa, which expired in June 2004. To allow him to stay legally in the U.S., a female friend of Affholter's, who also worked in the public defender's office, volunteered to marry Cerna-Rojas in a Las Vegas chapel. Full Story from the New Times: http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2009/12/eric_affholter_gay_marriage_immigration.php

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