Nero Cooke v. State of Florida

174 So. 3d 628, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 13810, 2015 WL 5438668
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 16, 2015
Docket4D14-3497
StatusPublished

This text of 174 So. 3d 628 (Nero Cooke v. State of Florida) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nero Cooke v. State of Florida, 174 So. 3d 628, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 13810, 2015 WL 5438668 (Fla. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinions

GERBER, J.

The defendant appeals from the circuit court’s order denying, without an eviden-tiary hearing, his Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 motion for postconviction relief alleging ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to advise him of his guilty plea’s deportation consequences. The court denied the motion without an evidentiary hearing on two grounds: (1) the motion was facially insufficient; and (2) the motion and record conclusively demonstrated that the defendant was not entitled to relief. We conclude the court erred on both grounds. We also conclude the court’s warning during the plea colloquy, that the plea “probably” would result in the defendant’s deportation, did not necessarily remove any prejudice caused by counsel’s alleged ineffective assistance, where the plea’s deportation consequences, at least on the face of the defendant’s motion, may have been “truly clear” at the time of the plea. Thus, we reverse the denial of the defendant’s 3.850 motion, and remand for an evidentiary hearing on the motion.

We present this opinion in four parts: (1) the parties’ arguments to the circuit court; (2) the circuit court’s reasoning; (3) the parties’ arguments to this court; and (4) our reasoning. Part 4 will contain three sub-parts explaining: (a) why the defendant’s motion was facially sufficient; (b) why the motion and record did not demonstrate the defendant was not entitled to relief; and (c) why the court’s warning during the plea colloquy, that the plea “probably” would result in the defendant’s deportation, did not necessarily remove any prejudice caused by counsel’s alleged ineffective assistance, where the plea’s deportation consequences, at least on the face of the defendant’s motion, may have been “truly clear” at the time of the plea.

1. The Parties’ Arguments to the Circuit Court

On November 10, 2011, the defendant pled guilty to carrying a concealed firearm committed on May 19, 2010. On a plea form, he placed his initials next to the following sentence: “I understand that if I am not a United States Citizen, my plea may subject me to deportation pursuant to the laws and regulations governing the United States ... and, this Court has no jurisdiction (authority) in such matters.” (emphasis added).

[631]*631During the plea colloquy, the court warned the defendant: “[I]f you’re not a citizen, by pleading guilty today, that would negatively affect your immigration status, probably resulting in deportation and not being allowed back in to the country. Do you understand that?” (emphasis added). The defendant responded: ‘Tes, sir.” The court adjudicated the defendant guilty and sentenced him to prison.

The defendant then filed his rule 3.850 motion seeking to vacate his plea, judgment, and sentence. The motion also incorporated supporting affidavits from the defendant and an immigration attorney. The motion alleged, in pertinent part:

3. At the time [the defendant] pled guilty to the charge, he was not a citizen of the United States....
4. [The defendant] was never warned by his attorney that there would be mandatory consequences as a result of his plea. See Affidavit of [Defendant].
5. By entering the instant plea [the defendant] became mandatorily deporta-ble from the United States. If [the defendant] did not have the instant conviction he would not be deportable from the United States. See Immigration and Nationality Act (INA); Affidavit of Attorney....
6. Pursuant to U.S. Immigration law any non-citizen convicted of a firearm offense is deportable from the United States. See Immigration and Nationality Act at Section 237(a)(2)(C); Affidavit of Attorney....
7. Had [the defendant] been warned by his attorney of the certain immigration consequences of his plea he would not have entered a plea in the instant case and instead would have chosen to proceed to trial. See Affidavit of [Defendant].

The defendant’s affidavit alleged:

1. I am a citizen of [another country who] entered the United States on June 8, 2007, as a lawful permanent resident.
2. On December 1, 2011, I was placed into removal proceedings by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
3. I am deportable from the United States only because of my conviction in the instant case.
4. If I had known that by entering my plea in this case I would become subject to mandatory deportation I never would have entered it.
5. I was never advised by my criminal defense attorney of the immigration consequences of my plea.

The immigration attorney’s affidavit alleged, in pertinent part:

3. [The defendant] became deportable from the Unites States under section 237(a)(2)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) on November 10, 2011 as an alien convicted any time after admission of a violation of any law of purchasing, selling, offering for sale, exchanging, using, owning, possessing, or carrying, or of attempting or conspiring to purchase, sell, offer for sale, exchange, use, own, possess, or carry, any weapon, part, or accessory, which is a firearm or destructive devise [sic] (as defined in section 921(a) of Title 18) in violation of any law.
4. The moment [the defendant] entered his guilty plea he became mandatorily deportable from the United States.
5. Given the fact that this is [the defendant’s] only criminal conviction and he is a lawful permanent resident of the United States if he did not have the instant conviction he would not be deportable from the United States.

Based on the allegations, the motion argued that the defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel. More specifical[632]*632ly, the defendant argued that counsel must advise when a plea renders the defendant deportable, and that both misadvice and lack of advice in this regard constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel. The defendant also argued that a court’s equivocal deportation warning does not cure the prejudice which counsel’s misadvice or lack of advice causes.

The state’s response, citing Cano v. State, 112 So.3d 646, 648 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013), argued: “Where movant has received the standard ‘may’ or ‘could’ deportation warning required by [Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure] 3.172(c)(8), to state a claim for relief under Padilla [v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356, 130 S.Ct. 1473, 176 L.Ed.2d 284 (2010) ], a movant must establish the following’’:

(1) the movant was in the United States lawfully at the time of the plea;
(2) the plea is the sole basis for the movant’s deportation;
(3) the law, as it existed at the time of the plea, subjected the movant to “virtually automatic” deportation;
(4) the “presumptively mandatory” consequence of deportation is clear from the immigration statute’s face;
(5) counsel faded to accurately advise the movant about the plea’s deportation consequences; and

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Related

Padilla v. Kentucky
559 U.S. 356 (Supreme Court, 2010)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Jermaine Facey v. State
143 So. 3d 1003 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2014)
Cano v. State
112 So. 3d 646 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2013)
Hernandez v. State
124 So. 3d 757 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2012)
Commonwealth v. Escobar
70 A.3d 838 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Chacon v. State
409 S.W.3d 529 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2013)

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Bluebook (online)
174 So. 3d 628, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 13810, 2015 WL 5438668, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nero-cooke-v-state-of-florida-fladistctapp-2015.