State v. Sosa

733 S.E.2d 262, 291 Ga. 734, 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 3158, 2012 WL 4855473, 2012 Ga. LEXIS 786
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedOctober 15, 2012
DocketS12A1130
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 733 S.E.2d 262 (State v. Sosa) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Sosa, 733 S.E.2d 262, 291 Ga. 734, 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 3158, 2012 WL 4855473, 2012 Ga. LEXIS 786 (Ga. 2012).

Opinion

Hunstein, Chief Justice.

Daniel Sosa filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus contending that his attorney was ineffective for failing to advise him that his [735]*735guilty plea would subject him to removal or deportation. The State moved to dismiss the petition as untimely. The habeas court denied the motion and granted habeas relief on the ground that Sosa received ineffective assistance of counsel at his plea hearing in 2002. Because Sosa’s habeas petition was untimely under the four-year statute of limitations in OCGA § 9-14-42, we reverse.

On May 9,2002, Sosa entered a plea of guilty to child molestation in violation of OCGA § 16-6-4. He was sentenced to ten years on sexual offender probation, and his conviction became final after 30 days. See OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). At the time, he was a permanent resident of the United States; his wife and four children are citizens. In November 2010, Sosa was detained under the Immigration and Nationality Act as an immigrant who had committed an aggravated felony. See 8 USC § 1227 (a) (2) (A) (iii). He was deported a month later to Mexico.

Sosa filed his habeas corpus petition on January 12, 2012, challenging his conviction under the United States Supreme Court decision in Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U. S. 356(130 SC 1473,176LE2d 284) (2010). Specifically, he maintained that his attorney at the plea hearing was ineffective for failing to advise him of the effect that his guilty plea might have on his immigration status and, further, that he did not knowingly enter the guilty plea with the understanding that he was likely to be deported. In support of his petition, Sosa filed an affidavit stating that he was innocent of the charge and would have proceeded to trial had he known a guilty plea would affect his ability to remain in this country as a permanent resident. The State moved to dismiss the petition as time barred under the four-year statute of limitation in OCGA § 9-14-42 (c).

Denying the motion to dismiss, the habeas court found that Sosa’s attorney did not remember advising Sosa that his guilty plea could result in his deportation, and the transcript of the guilty plea shows that the trial court did not advise him of the possibility. Based on these findings, the habeas court concluded that Sosa’s attorney was deficient for failing to advise Sosa of the risk of deportation from his guilty plea and the attorney’s deficient performance prejudiced Sosa because there is a reasonable probability he would not have pleaded guilty but for his attorney’s errors. As a result, the habeas court granted relief and vacated Sosa’s conviction. The State appeals.

1. Our habeas corpus statute provides for a period of limitations to seek a writ of habeas corpus in state court for the denial of a federal or state constitutional right. OCGA § 9-14-42 (c). In the case of a felony other than one involving a death sentence, any action must be [736]*736filed within four years from:

(1) The judgment of conviction becoming final by the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for seeking such review; provided, however, that any person whose conviction has become final as of July 1,2004, regardless of the date of conviction, shall have... until July 1,2008, in the case of a felony to bring an action pursuant to this Code section;
(3) The date on which the right asserted was initially recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States or the Supreme Court of Georgia, if that right was newly recognized by said courts and made retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review.

Id. (effective July 1, 2004).

In this case, Sosa’s felony conviction was final prior to July 1, 2004, and he was required under subsection (c) (1) to bring his habeas action by July 1, 2008, unless the exception in subsection (c) (3) applies. To toll the statute of limitations under that exception, the right must be both newly recognized and made retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review. See Alford v. State, 287 Ga. 105 (695 SE2d 1) (2010) (applying new criminal procedural rule involving right to counsel retroactively to case on collateral review).

2. In Padilla v. Kentucky, the United States Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel requires an attorney to inform a client when a guilty plea carries a risk of deportation. 559 U. S. at_(130 SC at 1486). Under Padilla, “a defendant who is not a United States citizen and can show that his lawyer did not adequately advise him of the risks of deportation resulting from his guilty plea” will establish deficient performance under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668 (104 SC 2052, 80 LE2d 674) (1984), but must still prove prejudice by showing that “ ‘there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s errors, he would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial.’ ” Smith v. State, 287 Ga. 391, 396 (2) (b) (697 SE2d 177) (2010) (citing Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U. S. 52, 59 (106 SC 366, 88 LE2d 203) (1985)).

The Supreme Court has granted certiorari to consider this term whether the Padilla rule applies retroactively to persons whose convictions became final before Padilla was decided. See Chaidez v. United States, 655 F3d 684 (7th Cir. 2011), cert. granted, _U. S.__ (132 SC 2101, 182 LE2d 867) (2012). To determine whether a constitutional rule of criminal procedure applies retroactively to judgments [737]*737in criminal cases that are final before the new rule is announced, we apply the analysis set out in Teague v. Lane, 489 U. S. 288 (109 SC 1060, 103 LE2d 334) (1989). See Alford, 287 Ga. at 106.

Under Teague, a rule of criminal procedure applies to all cases on direct and collateral review if it is an old rule applied to new facts, but a new rule generally applies only to cases that are still on direct review unless it falls within one of two exceptions. Whorton v. Bockting, 549 U. S. 406, 416 (127 SC 1173, 167 LE2d 1) (2007). “Anew rule applies retroactively in a collateral proceeding only if (1) the rule is substantive or (2) the rule is a watershed rule of criminal procedure implicating the fundamental fairness and accuracy of the criminal proceeding.” Id. (citations and punctuation omitted).

The federal and state appellate courts are split on whether Padilla applies retroactively to persons whose convictions became final before its announcement. Three federal courts of appeals and two state supreme courts have concluded that Padilla

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Bluebook (online)
733 S.E.2d 262, 291 Ga. 734, 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 3158, 2012 WL 4855473, 2012 Ga. LEXIS 786, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sosa-ga-2012.