MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
I. Background
Defendant/Petitioner Roselva Chaidez, a lawful permanent resident of the United States, filed a petition for writ of error coram nobis complaining that neither this court nor her attorney informed her of the immigration consequences of pleading-guilty to federal charges of mail fraud. (Doc. 178.) Chaidez pled guilty on December 3, 2003 (Doc. 50), and the court sentenced her to four years of probation (Doc. 65). On October 11, 2009, Chaidez filed her petition as a separate civil case. Chief Judge James Holderman dismissed the case and instructed Chaidez to refile her petition as part of the original criminal case before this court.
(See
Case No. 09 C 6372, Doc. 3.) Chaidez filed her petition as a motion on January 25, 2010. (Doc. 171.) She filed a corrected petition on March 23, 2010. (Doc. 178.) Just one week later, the Supreme Court issued its decision in
Padilla v. Kentucky,
— U.S. -,
In a previous opinion, this court explained that Chaidez would need to provide additional factual detail in order for the court to assess her claim under
Padilla. United States v. Chaidez,
No. 03 CR 636-6,
II. Analysis
A. Retroactivity
The government in its supplemental response argued that
Padilla
could not be applied retroactively in Chaidez’s collateral attack on her guilty plea. The court concluded that Chaidez did not seek retroactive application of
Padilla.
Rather, the court stated, it need only apply the well-established rule in
Strickland v. Washington,
Only a few courts have yet weighed in on the question of
Padilla’s
retroactive application. Some courts have found that the decision may be applied to convictions which became final before March 31, 2010, the date the
Padilla
decision was announced, and so is applicable retroactively.
See United States v. Hubenig,
No. 6:03-mj-040,
The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in
Teague v. Lane,
The
Teague
analysis generally turns on whether a particular decision announced a new rule or mérely applied an old rule in a new context.
3
When the Court overturns its own prior precedent, clearly a new rule is established.
Saffle v. Parks,
Generally ... a case announces a new rule when it breaks new ground or imposes a new obligation on the States or the Federal Government.... To put it differently, a case announces a new rule if the result was not dictated by precedent existing at the time the defendant’s conviction became final.
Id. (emphasis in original).
The “dictated” language from
Teague
suggests a broad interpretation of what constitutes a new rule. Whenever uncertainty might exist about how a certain holding applies to a new context, then it could be said that the holding does not “dictate” the particular application. But the Supreme Court has not found that every novel application of an old precedent results in the announcement of a new rule.
See, e.g., Stringer v. Black,
In its habeas corpus jurisprudence, the Court has maintained a distinction between a court’s statement of the law and its application of the law to a new set of facts.
See Williams v. Taylor,
The holding in
Padilla
is an extension of the rule in
Strickland. Strickland
held that a defendant could have his conviction reversed if he could show that his counsel’s representation “fell below an objective standard of reasonableness,” and that deficiency prejudiced the defendant such that “there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.”
Padilla could be described as establishing a per se rule that counsel must inform a chent of immigration consequences before an informed guilty plea may be entered. Alternatively, the case can be read as a straightforward application of Strickland: the petitioner’s attorney “fell below an objective standard of reasonableness,” because, as a factual matter, the professional standards at the time of the client’s plea required counsel to inform of potential immigration consequences.
Both of these potential readings have some appeal. The government points out that the language of the opinion suggests the Justices recognized the novelty of its holding.
Padilla,
Nevertheless, as the Supreme Court stated in
Williams,
“[e]ven though we have characterized the new rule inquiry as whether ‘reasonable jurists’ could disagree as to whether a result is dictated by precedent, the standard for determining when a case establishes a new rule is ‘objective,’ and the mere existence of conflicting authority does not necessarily mean a rule is new.”
Further, the Court has noted that “the
Strickland
test provides sufficient guidance for resolving virtually all ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims.”
Williams,
Whether the prisoner seeks the application of an old rule in a novel setting, depends in large part on the nature of the rule. If the rule in question is one which of necessity requires a case-by-case examination of the evidence, then we can tolerate a number of specific applications without saying that those applications themselves create a new rule.
The rule of Jackson v. Virginia,443 U.S. 307 ,99 S.Ct. 2781 ,61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), is an example. By its very terms it provides a general standard which calls for some examination of the facts. The standard is whether any rational trier of fact could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt after a review of all the evidence, so of course there will be variations from case to case. Where the beginning point is a rule of this general application, a rule designed for the specific purpose of evaluating a myriad of factual contexts, it will be the infrequent case that yields a result so novel that it forges a new rule, one not dictated by precedent.
Wright,
Justice Kennedy’s analysis applies equally to
Strickland
claims. In
Osagiede v. United States,
Thus, the only question for this court is whether this is “the infrequent
[Strickland]
case that yields a result so novel that it forges a new rule.”
Id.
at 408 n. 4. It is a close question, but the court is convinced that
Padilla
did not announce a new rule for two reasons. First, the petitioner in
Padilla
brought a collateral challenge to his conviction.
6
*903
Thus, if Chaidez’s claim is barred by
Teague,
Padilla’s claim should have been barred as well. Prior to the decision in
Teague,
the Supreme Court would regularly announce new rules but not address the issue of retroactivity until subsequent cases.
Teague,
It seems unlikely that our decision today will have significant effect on those convictions already obtained as the result of plea bargains. For at least the past 15 years, professional norms have generally imposed an obligation on counsel to provide advice on the deportation consequences of a client’s plea.
Padilla,
Second, application of
Padilla
in cases like this one continues to promote the finality of judgments, which is the purpose behind the rule in
Teague, see Gilmore v. Taylor,
The Supreme Court has employed a “functional view of what constitutes a new rule.”
Saffle,
Accordingly, the court holds that Padilla did not announce a new rule for Teague purposes and affirms its earlier opinion that no retroactivity problem is raised by petitioner’s claim.
B. Chaidez’s Affidavit
The court now turns to a review of the affidavit submitted by Chaidez. In its previous opinion, the court explained that coram nobis relief is available only where petitioner can show: 1) there was an error “of the most fundamental character,” 2) there are “sound reasons for the failure to seek earlier relief,” and 3) the petitioner “continues to suffer from [her] conviction even though [s]he is out of custody.”
Chaidez,
Next, the court held that Chaidez could establish the second element of the coram nobis standard by showing that she had a good reason for waiting until now to raise the issue.
Chaidez,
*905
Finally, the court held that Chaidez could establish the third element of the coram nobis standard because she pled guilty to a crime for which federal law permits the Attorney General to seek deportation.
Chaidez,
Now that Chaidez has established a legally sufficient claim for relief, she is entitled to an evidentiary hearing.
8
See United States v. Bejacmar,
III. Conclusion
For the reasons stated above, Chaidez is entitled to a hearing on her claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.
Notes
. Neither the Supreme Court nor the Seventh Circuit has determined whether the retroactivity rule of
Teague
applies to a coram nobis petition. What precedent exists regarding co-ram nobis has generally cited to post-conviction cases.
See
Larry W. Yackle, Postconviction Remedies § 7:27 (Thomson Reuters 2010). Other circuits have applied
Teague
in coram nobis cases.
See United States v. Mandanici,
. Although
Teague
was a plurality opinion, a majority of the court quickly adopted the rule announced in that case.
See Penry v. Lynaugh,
.There are two exceptions to the
Teague
rule. First, "a new rule should be applied retroactively if it places 'certain kinds of primary private individual conduct beyond the power of the criminal law-making authority to proscribe.' ”
Id.
at 311,
. The Court in
Padilla
was asked to address only the first half of the
Strickland
analysis. The Court left open the question of whether petitioner had been prejudiced by his counsel's ineffective assistance.
Padilla,
. Before
Padilla
there was a split among the circuits on the question of whether counsel is ineffective in affirmatively providing incorrect information about immigration consequences.
See Padilla,
. Jose Padilla pled guilty to three drug-related charges; final judgment was entered on October 4, 2002. Padilla filed for post-conviction relief in state court on August 18, 2004.
Commonwealth v. Padilla,
. Chaidez's affidavit contains an apparent inconsistency. She states:
18. Then on or about December 2009, I received a Notice to Appear before an immigration judge for removal proceedings. *905 19. I immediately contacted my U.S. Probation Officer, Juan Tappia, who gave me the name of my current immigration lawyer, Gerardo Gutierrez.
(Aff. ¶¶ 18-19.) This suggests that Chaidez did not meet with her attorney until at least December; however, she first filed her petition through counsel in October 2009. Nevertheless, the affidavit also states that Chaidez first learned of the possibility of deportation in "early 2009,” and the court relies on that factual averment in concluding that Chaidez may be able to satisfy the requirements of coram nobis.
. At a court appearance on August 11, 2010, the government sought permission to file a response to Chaidez’s affidavit. The court ordered the response by August 23, 2010. (Doc. 192.) If the government points to any deficiencies with the affidavit that are not noted by the court, the court may reconsider this section of the opinion at that time.
