Nash v. United States

153 F. Supp. 3d 584, 2015 WL 9595414
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedApril 8, 2015
Docket14 CV 7590 (ILG)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 153 F. Supp. 3d 584 (Nash v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nash v. United States, 153 F. Supp. 3d 584, 2015 WL 9595414 (E.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

GLASSER, United States District Judge

The defendant moved this Court for the issuance of an Order that would vacate his conviction following his plea of guilty to conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 and possessing a firearm during and in relation to the drug offense in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). He was 18 years old at the time. Those crimes were committed over a period of only two months.

Background

Mr. Nash pleaded guilty pursuant to an agreement on June 26, 2009, and sentence was scheduled to be imposed on October 1, 2009. By that agreement, however, he consented to adjournments of his sentence as requested by the government. Those requests which were subsequently made caused Mr. Nash’s sentence to be adjourned to May 14, 2013. In anticipation of his sentence, the Court was advised in a letter from his defense counsel dated May 10th, that the parties became aware that he was a lawful permanent resident and not a citizen of the United States and was not advised of the immigration consequences of his guilty plea. In the light of the then recently decided Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356, 130 S.Ct. 1473, 176 L.Ed.2d 284 (2010), the parties requested “additional time to consider the manner in which to proceed.” Sentencing was adjourned for one month. until June 14th. Michelle Gelernt was defense counsel and AUSA Shreve Ariail was the prosecutor. Portions of the transcript of that proceeding which present with crystal clarity the core of this motion are here set out.

MS. GELERNT: I guess, your Hon- or, the issue is as we were preparing for sentencing and I was reviewing the sen-[585]*585fencing minutes and the agreement, it became apparent that Mr. Nash had not been advised of the immigration consequences.
THE COURT: Okay.
MS. GELERNT: Mr. Nash and I have had a working relationship now for about four years, and I think we have a good working relationship.
THE COURT: Yes?
MS. GELERNT: In terms of the issues, I wasn’t sure whether or not at least for — I think technically he would have the right to withdraw his plea.
THE COURT: Exactly.
MS. GELERNT: And I wasn’t sure if because I wa.s the lawyer who took the plea whether it was appropriate for me to be the lawyer who advised him on whether or not to withdraw it or whether or not, you know, to be entirely cautious about it, whether or not CJA should be assigned just for the purpose of explaining to him the possible conflict and that type of thing. So it was in excess of caution that I..felt like the record should be—
THE COURT: Good morning, Mr. Nash.
THE- DEFENDANT: Good morning.
THE COURT: I’m sure that Ms. Gel-ernt has given you a very clear and complete breakdown of what all this is about.
Let me try to explain it to you as clearly as I know how. You are not a citizen of the United States. You are here as a permanent resident.
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: When you pleaded guilty, you may recall that I asked you whether you knew that the maximum sentence or the punishment that the law provides for for the crime that you are charged with and were going to plead guilty was a minimum of ten years, a maximum of life, and all the rest; and I talked to you about supervised release and I talked to you about a special assessment of $200, which was mandatory.
But one of the things you should have been told — and I should have told you, if I had been made aware of the fact that you weren’t a citizen, and so we were not doing all the things we should have been doing because we didn’t — I didn’t know' that you were not a citizen. Whether the government knew it, whether anybody else knew it is-irrelevant at this point.
Because you are not a citizen you should have been told at the time, before you entered your plea of guilty, that the crime with which you were charged, particularly count one, which dealt with a conspiracy to distribute crack, that’s a crime which may very well result in your deportation to Jamaica, were you to plead guilty. At that point, knowing what the possible consequence of pleading guilty might be, you could have decided that you don’t want to plead guilty. You could have decided that you just , as soon go to trial and take your chances of being acquitted of the crime rather than pleading guilty and facing the real possibility that you may be deported.
The Supreme Court of the United States, two years ago — I think it was 2010 — decided that if a person pleads guilty but he wasn’t informed before he did that one of the consequences of pleading guilty might be his deportation, then he might be able to withdraw his pléa. I say “might” because the court would have to make a determination whether technically your lawyer did not provide the assistance that a lawyer should have provided in not telling you [586]*586what the consequences of pleading maybe; namely, deportation.
A claim which is 'very frequently made, particularly after a trial and after a defendant has been found guilty, is he then tells the court that I was not given the effective assistance of counsel, and he wants to upset his conviction. The court would have to decide two things before it grants it, one of which, is, I think, significant for you to think about: One, whether the lawyer was ineffective in providing assistance, that is, the lawyer should have told you that you might be deported; and second, not having told you, would it make a difference. In other words, had you known, would you have decided to go to trial rather than plead guilty.
So the court would have to be satisfied that those two things would be fulfilled. So the question is, first, because the Supreme Court decided as it did, there Was ineffective assistance of counsel in not having told you before you pleaded guilty that you might be deported if you were; and the second piece of it is that would it have made any difference to you, if you had been told, would you have nevertheless gone ahead with your guilty plea or would you have decided at that point, no, I just as soon go to trial.
Is that á little much for you?
THE DEFENDANT: No. I understand what you are saying.
THE COURT: You understood all that?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes.
THE COURT: So you have a right to ask me to withdraw your plea of guilty if that's something you think you might want to do.
THE DEFENDANT: No, sir.
THE COURT: Pardon?
THE DEFENDANT: No..
MS. GELERNT: Just wait for the judge to finish.
THE DEFENDANT: I’m sorry.

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153 F. Supp. 3d 584, 2015 WL 9595414, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nash-v-united-states-nyed-2015.