55 Mass. App. Ct. 916 | Mass. App. Ct. | 2002
On January 8, 1998, the defendant admitted to sufficient facts and was found guilty of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, and threatening to commit a crime. On February 3, 2000, with the
On appeal, the defendant does not take issue with the colloquy conducted by the judge, but rather claims his defense counsel was ineffective for failing to inform him of the immigration consequences he faced as a result of pleading guilty.
Beyond the fact that the defendant was actually warned, we have long held that, in the absence of a statutory requirement, a defendant need not be informed of the collateral consequences of a guilty plea. See Commonwealth v. Hason, 27 Mass. App. Ct. 840, 843 (1989), and cases cited; Commonwealth v. Albert A., 49 Mass. App. Ct. 269, 271 (2000). Moreover, we have repeatedly held that immigration ramifications are one such collateral consequence. See Commonwealth v. Hason, supra; Commonwealth v. Medeiros, 48 Mass. App. Ct. 374, 375 (1999).
The defendant counters that, due to various changes in immigration law and policy since 1996, immigration consequences can no longer be considered collateral, because such consequences are now “certain” and, as such, a “direct” consequence of a guilty plea.
Because immigration consequences remain collateral in nature, the defendant was not entitled to any warning beyond that mandated by G. L. c. 278, § 29D. For this reason, and for the other reasons discussed, counsel was not constitutionally ineffective. The motion was properly denied.
Order denying motion for new trial affirmed.
Pursuant to G. L. c. 278, § 29D, the judge properly advised the defendant of the immigration consequences he could face.
Anecdotal evidence notwithstanding, the defendant has provided no authority for the proposition that deportation, in circumstances such as these, is certain, i.e., that no decisionmaker, at any stage of the removal process, has discretion to permit a defendant to remain. See, in this regard, Blumenson, 2 Massachusetts Criminal Practice § 42.2, at n.34.5 (Supp. 2001).