State v. Sanmartin Prado

141 A.3d 99, 448 Md. 664, 2016 Md. LEXIS 437
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJuly 11, 2016
Docket100/15
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 141 A.3d 99 (State v. Sanmartin Prado) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Sanmartin Prado, 141 A.3d 99, 448 Md. 664, 2016 Md. LEXIS 437 (Md. 2016).

Opinion

WATTS, J.

In Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356, 374, 369, 130 S.Ct. 1473, 176 L.Ed.2d 284 (2010), the Supreme Court held for the first time that, pursuant to the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, “counsel must inform [his or] her client whether his [or her] plea carries a risk of deportation[,]” and that, “when *666 the deportation consequence is truly clear, ... the duty to give correct advice is equally clear.” After Padilla, in Denisyuk v. State, 422 Md. 462, 466, 30 A.3d 914, 916 (2011), this Court held, in relevant part, that “defense counsel’s failure to advise [the defendant] of the deportation consequence of his guilty plea was constitutionally deficient[,]” and that, “based on the record developed at the postconviction hearing and the [postconviction] court’s express finding on the subject, [] counsel’s deficient performance prejudiced [the defendant].” Additionally, in the wake of Padilla, courts in other jurisdictions have held that a defendant’s counsel’s performance was constitutionally deficient where the defendant’s counsel either failed to advise the defendant whatsoever of the immigration consequences of the defendant’s guilty plea, or affirmatively misadvised the defendant about the immigration consequences of the defendant’s guilty plea. Murkier, however, are the waters where a defendant’s counsel advises that an offense is deportable and uses “qualifying” words — such as “very likely be deported,” Chacon v. State, 409 S.W.3d 529, 532 (Mo.Ct.App.2013) (emphasis omitted), or “strong chance” of being deported, State v. Shota, 364 Wis.2d 63, 868 N.W.2d 93, 96 (2015) — when advising a defendant of the immigration consequences attendant to a plea.

In this case, we must decide whether defense counsel’s advice — that there “could and probably would be immigration consequences” for the defendant’s conviction for second-degree child abuse because it was a “deportable” or “possibly deportable” offense — was constitutionally deficient because defense counsel “qualified” his advice, or was correct advice that adequately informed the defendant of the risk of deportation. We hold that, where the coram nobis court found that defense counsel advised the defendant that “this was a ‘deportable offense’ and [the defendant] ‘could be deported ... if the federal government chose to initiate deportation proceedings,’ and it was ‘possible’ that the [defendant] would be deported[,]” and where defense counsel testified that he also advised the defendant that “there could and probably would be immigration consequences” and “that it was a deportable or a possibly *667 deportable offense,” and the advice was given before a plea of not guilty by way of an agreed statement of facts proceeding, such advice was not constitutionally deficient, but rather was “correct advice” about the “risk of deportation,” as required by Padilla, 559 U.S. at 369, 374, 130 S.Ct. 1473.

BACKGROUND

On June 8, 2010, Juan Carlos Sanmartín Prado (“Sanmartín Prado”), Respondent, a citizen of Ecuador and a legal permanent resident of the United States, was charged by criminal information filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County (“the circuit court”) with first-degree child abuse causing severe physical injury, second-degree child abuse, and second-degree assault against his three-year-old daughter. On January 6, 2011, Sanmartín Prado pleaded not guilty by way of an agreed statement of facts to Count 2, second-degree child abuse, 1 pursuant to an agreement with the State. 2 At that time, Sanmartín Prado’s trial counsel (“trial counsel”) engaged *668 in a waiver colloquy with Sanmartín Prado; and the following exchange occurred as to Sanmartín Prado’s immigration status:

[TRIAL COUNSEL]: And understand what — we have had discussions with respect to your immigration status.
Is that correct?
[SANMARTIN PRADO]: Yes, sir.
[TRIAL COUNSEL]: You have a green card and you have been a permanent resident of the United States for over twelve years, is that correct?
[SANMARTIN PRADO]: Yes, sir.
[TRIAL COUNSEL]: You are not under an active deportation order?
[SANMARTIN PRADO]: No.
[TRIAL COUNSEL]: And there’s no immigration detainer that we are aware of.
Is that correct?
[SANMARTIN PRADO]: That’s correct.
[TRIAL COUNSEL]: And you understand that I’m not making any promises and the [circuit court] is not making any promises about what the federal government could possibly do in the future with respect to reviewing this conviction.
Is that correct?
[SANMARTIN PRADO]: Yes, sir.
[TRIAL COUNSEL]: And you still wish to proceed this morning?
[SANMARTIN PRADO]: Yes, sir.

Thereafter, the circuit court announced that “Sanmartín Prado ha[d] waived his rights to a jury trial and to a Court trial in this matter, and that he ha[d] done so voluntarily and understanding the rights that he has.”

The State then read into the record the following agreed statement of facts:

*669 [O]n April 28th, 2010, the Crimes Against Children’s Unit of the Baltimore County Police Department received information regarding a possible child abuse that occurred to a three-year-old named B[. 3 ]
The matter was assigned to Detective Lane to investigate. Detective Lane’s investigation revealed that on 4-18-2010, ten days earlier, the child was in her father, ... Sanmartín Prado’s care and during that time she sustained a serious burn to the left side of her face.
During that time the mother of the child, Gina Salinas became aware of the burn.
Together [ ] Salinas and [ ] Sanmartín Prado made the decision not to take the child to the hospital, however, the next day, April 19th 2010, the child was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital. There the mother and [Sanmartín Prado] told the hospital staff a story that consisted of this being an accident. The child was in the bath tub, she turned the water on and she burnt her face.
The police were not called at that time. Days later the police were informed of this injury. The police did interview [ ] Salinas and she told the police that she had left her child B[.] with [Sanmartín Prado] while she worked and when she came home from work she found B[.] to have a serious burn to the left side of her face.

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Bluebook (online)
141 A.3d 99, 448 Md. 664, 2016 Md. LEXIS 437, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sanmartin-prado-md-2016.