State v. Taveras

2017 Ohio 1496, 89 N.E.3d 6
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 24, 2017
DocketNO. CA2016–06–054
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 2017 Ohio 1496 (State v. Taveras) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Taveras, 2017 Ohio 1496, 89 N.E.3d 6 (Ohio Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

HENDRICKSON, P.J.

*9 {¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Fermin A. Taveras, appeals from a decision of the Warren County Court of Common Pleas denying his post-sentence motion to withdraw his guilty plea. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the decision of the trial court.

{¶ 2} Appellant is a citizen of the Dominican Republic but has been a lawful permanent resident of the United States since he entered the country as a child in 1966. Appellant's first language is English, and he has a 10th grade education. Appellant served in and was honorably discharged from the United States Army Reserves. He is married to a United States citizen with whom he has a child.

{¶ 3} On May 2, 2011, after drinking all day, appellant left his residence in Warren County, Ohio and fled from police, who were giving him a visible or audible signal to stop his vehicle. Appellant led police in a pursuit during rush hour traffic in the city of Mason and Deerfield Township area. Appellant ran stop signs and red lights and nearly struck several vehicles. When appellant was finally stopped, he had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage about his person, had bloodshot and glassy eyes, and was unsteady on his feet. Appellant admitted he had been drinking heavily and was impaired. Appellant was arrested and taken to the police station. A breath test was administered, which resulted in a reading of .229.

{¶ 4} Appellant was indicted on one count of failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer, a felony of the third degree, and two counts of operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drug of abuse ("OVI"), misdemeanors of the first degree. Appellant, who was indigent, was appointed counsel.

{¶ 5} On September 6, 2011, following plea negotiations, appellant pled guilty to failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer and one count of OVI in exchange for the other OVI count being dismissed. Appellant executed a Change of Plea and Entry form, which stated, "I am a citizen of the United States." When questioned by the trial court about the form, appellant indicated he had signed the form, he understood what he signed, and he did not have any questions. The trial court accepted appellant's guilty plea and set the matter for sentencing on October 12, 2011, so that a presentence investigation ("PSI") report could be prepared.

{¶ 6} Appellant's status as a noncitizen was discovered during the court's presentence investigation. At the October 12, 2011 sentencing hearing, after confirming appellant's status as a noncitizen, the trial court advised appellant as follows:

THE COURT: As you are not a citizen of the United States you are being advised that to [sic] the offenses to which you have pled guilty may have the consequences of deportation, exclusion from *10 admission to the United States for [sic] denial of naturalization pursuant to the laws of the United States. You understand that, sir?

Appellant indicated he understood the court's advisement. The trial court then informed appellant that it would allow him additional time to consider whether he wanted to proceed with sentencing or whether he wanted to withdraw his plea. Appellant indicated he wished to proceed with sentencing. The trial court sentenced appellant to community control for three years and suspended his driver's license for five years. As conditions of his community control, appellant was ordered to serve 45 days in jail, spend 90 days on electronic monitoring, pay a $375 mandatory fine, complete a drug, alcohol, and mental health evaluation, and comply with any recommendations resulting from such evaluation. Appellant was advised that a violation of his community control sanctions could result in a two-year prison sentence.

{¶ 7} Appellant admitted to violating the terms of his community control in October 2012, June 2014, and March 2015. Following the first two violations, the trial court continued appellant's community control with additional sanctions. However, on March 2, 2015, after appellant's third violation, the trial court revoked appellant's community control and sentenced him to two years in prison, with credit for 264 days.

{¶ 8} Shortly after appellant's community control was revoked and he was imprisoned, the United States Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") initiated deportation proceedings against him. 1 DHS alleged, among other things, that appellant was removable from the country pursuant to 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) as he had been convicted of an aggravated felony, wherein the term "aggravated felony" means a "crime of violence * * * for which the term of imprisonment [is] at least one year." 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43)(F).

{¶ 9} On April 18, 2016, more than 13 months after he was sentenced to prison for his community control violation and more than 11 months after DHS instituted deportation proceedings against him, appellant filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea and vacate his conviction. In his motion, appellant asserted he received ineffective assistance of counsel as his attorney failed to advise him of the immigration consequences of his plea. Appellant argued that had he known he was deportable and subject to a permanent, unwaivable bar to reentry to the United States, he would not have pled guilty. In support of his motion, appellant attached an affidavit in which he averred that he did not discuss the immigration consequences of his plea with his appointed counsel or any other attorney before entering his plea or before or at his sentencing hearing. He further averred that he had not read or reviewed the Change of Plea and Entry form with his attorney prior to signing it at the plea hearing and was therefore unaware that the form contained the statement that "I am a citizen of the United States." Finally, appellant attested that although the trial court advised him at the sentencing hearing that he could be subject to deportation as a result of his guilty plea and gave him the opportunity to withdraw his plea, he "did not understand the consequences of *11 [his] plea since [he] had no advice from any attorney about the matter * * * [and] was under a tremendous amount of stress at the time * * *." Appellant stated that his attorney "did not discuss with me or give me any advice and counsel about the option of withdrawing the plea or continuing the hearing."

{¶ 10} The state filed a memorandum opposing appellant's request to withdraw his guilty plea, and a hearing was held on May 16, 2016. Appellant was the only witness to testify, and his testimony was consistent with the statements set forth in his affidavit. At the hearing, appellant also introduced documents related to the deportation proceedings instituted against him.

{¶ 11} On May 27, 2016, the trial court denied appellant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea. In denying appellant's motion, the court noted that it had provided a "near-verbatim recitation of the language contained in R.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2017 Ohio 1496, 89 N.E.3d 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-taveras-ohioctapp-2017.