Convicted Sex Offender Chooses Canadian Exile Over Jail

A JOKE OR WHAT?

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jail or Canada? Malcolm Watson chose
Canada.
In an unusual sentence that has immigration lawyers
questioning its legality, the U.S. citizen has agreed to stay
out of the United States for the next three years as
punishment for having sex with a 15-year-old female
student.
The exile starts Monday for the 35-year-old former
Buffalo Seminary teacher, who was arrested in April
after a mall security guard noticed him and the girl
sitting in a parked car for two hours.
Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark called the
plea deal "a little dicey" but said the girl's family was
happy with it.
Under the sentence for sexual abuse imposed by
Cheektowaga Town Court, Watson can enter the
United States only to report to his probation officer.
Watson already lives across the border in Fort Erie,
Ontario, with his Canadian wife and three children.
But exiling a citizen is unheard of, said
Robert Kolken, a Buffalo immigration lawyer.
"I don't see how a judge sitting in a criminal court
in the U.S can lawfully banish a citizen as a condition
of sentencing," he said.
Cheektowaga Justice Thomas Kolbert could not
be reached for comment.
Another immigration lawyer, Robert Berger, warned
that Watson could be barred from entering Canada
because of his new criminal record.
Even Watson's lawyer, Oscar Smukler, said he was
surprised by the deal.
"We did some research on the question of whether
Canada might consider throwing [Watson] out, which
would make him a man without a country," Smukler
said.
The alternative sentence?
As much as a year behind bars.