State v. Bennett
State v. Bennett
Opinion
*287 On issuance of a writ of certiorari, the State challenges an order granting defendant's motion for reconsideration and motion for appropriate relief. Because the requirements for counsel to advise a defendant of the immigration consequences of a plea agreement established by Padilla do not apply retroactively, we reverse.
In 1997, defendant pled no contest to possessing cocaine with the intent to sell or deliver. In 2015, defendant filed a motion for appropriate relief. Defendant alleged that at the time of his plea, "no factual basis existed in fact or in law to support that Defendant's possession of cocaine was with intent to sell and/or deliver." On 19 July 2016, at the hearing on the matter, defendant raised a claim under
Padilla v. Kentucky
,
On 22 July 2016, defendant filed his amended MAR, alleging that when he entered his plea, he was not advised, as required by Padilla , "that a criminal felony conviction could be a basis for deportation proceedings." On 18 August 2016, the trial court entered an order denying defendant's MAR. The trial court found that "Defendant was advised of the consequences regarding the possibility of deportation, exclusion from this country, and the denial of naturalization under federal law at the time the plea was entered, as evidenced by the transcript of plea contained in the court file[.]" The order also decreed that "Petitioner's failure to assert any other grounds in his Motion is a BAR to any other claims, assertions, petitions, or motions he might hereafter file in this case, pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-1419 [.]" (Emphasis in original).
In 2017, defendant filed a motion to reconsider his amended MAR. Defendant's motion for reconsideration alleged he was entitled to reconsideration under
State v. Nkiam
,
As noted, defendant's motion for reconsideration was based on
Nkiam
, and his argument at the hearing also focused on
Nkiam
,
*94
which his counsel argued "surprised a lot of the bar" and placed a "fairly heavy burden" on defense counsel by going "beyond what a lot of people interpreted
Padilla
" required "as just advising of risk."
Nkiam
was decided by this Court in 2015, and the North Carolina Supreme Court ultimately concluded
per curiam
that discretionary review was improvidently allowed.
See
Nkiam
,
On appeal, the State contends the trial court erred in allowing defendant's motion for appropriate relief because Padilla does not apply retroactively to defendant. The State is correct; in State v. Alshaif , this Court determined Padilla did not apply retroactively and concluded:
Padilla raises the question of the extent to which attorneys can be expected to anticipate the expansion of their obligations under Strickland [ v. Washington ,466 U.S. 668 ,104 S.Ct. 2052 ,80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984) ] and the Sixth Amendment. We conclude that Padilla was a significant departure from prior requirements and hold that the decision therefore created a new rule, the retroactive application of which would be unreasonable . We therefore hold that the trial court did not err by concluding that Padilla was inapplicable to Defendant's case.
State v. Alshaif
,
Defendant entered his plea in 1997;
Padilla
was decided in 2010, and is not applied retroactively.
See
Defendant contends this Court should affirm the order because the trial court found a second ground, not based on Padilla , for allowing his MAR. Defendant further argues that since the State has failed to address any basis for the MAR other than Padilla in its brief, the State has waived by failing to challenge the alternate ground. Defendant bases this argument mostly on the trial court's statement near the end of the *290 hearing, "I'm thinking out loud, does that make this plea not a knowing, willful, understanding or as they say on the back here, it's the informed choice of the defendant made freely, voluntarily and understandingly, without even considering Padilla [.]" (Emphasis added.) Defendant also contends the order is based upon something other than Padilla based upon the portion of the order which states, "[t]he Court further finds his plea was not the result of an effective waiver of his State and Federal Constitutional rights to trial by jury, nor was he effectively advised of the same[.]" But defendant's argument takes the trial court's "thinking out loud" and the quoted portion of the order entirely out of context. Defendant's amended MAR and motion to reconsider raised only one basis for relief: that he was not properly informed of the consequences of his plea under Padilla . Defendant's argument at the hearing addressed the same issue and no other. In fact, defendant does not argue any possible facts that could even support a conclusion he did not enter into his plea voluntarily and understandingly *95 other than failure to be sufficiently advised of his rights under Padilla .
Because Padilla does not apply retroactively, the trial court erred by granting defendant's MAR on this basis, so we reverse and remand.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
Judges DILLON and BERGER concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.