Alanis v. State

• Decision Date: 06 August 1998
• Docket Number: No. C2-97-1014,C2-97-1014
• Citation: 583 N.W.2d 573
• Parties: Roel ALANIS, petitioner, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 573

583 N.W.2d 573

Roel ALANIS, petitioner, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent.

No. C2-97-1014.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Aug. 6, 1998.

Syllabus by the Court

1. For a guilty plea to be intelligent, a criminal defendant must be aware of the direct consequences of pleading guilty.

2. The direct consequences of a guilty plea are those which flow definitely, immediately, and automatically from the criminal defendant's plea of guilty, namely the maximum sentence and any fine to be imposed.

3. Because deportation does not flow definitely, immediately, and automatically from a criminal defendant's conviction arising from a guilty plea, it is a collateral, not a direct, consequence of a resident alien criminal defendant's conviction.

4. Failure to advise a criminal defendant of collateral consequences which might arise from a conviction resulting from a guilty plea, by itself, does not create a manifest injustice warranting withdrawal of the guilty plea.

5. On the record presented, the postconviction court's decision that withdrawal of resident alien criminal defendant's guilty plea was not necessary to correct a manifest injustice was not error.

6. As a collateral consequence of the guilty plea, a resident alien criminal defendant's defense counsel is under no obligation to advise defendant of the possibility of deportation and, therefore, defense counsel's failure to so inform defendant here does not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel.

7. Postconviction court did not abuse its discretion in denying a resident alien criminal defendant an evidentiary hearing on a postconviction petition.

8. We decline to exercise our supervisory authority to require district courts to advise resident alien criminal defendants that their plea of guilty may result in deportation.

Kyle D. White, St. Paul, Sergio Andrede, Inver Grove Heights, for appellant.

H.H.H., III, State Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Wayne Swanson, Polk Co. Atty., Scott Buhler, Asst. Co. Atty., Crookston, for respondent.

Amicus curiae Immigrant Law Center of MN Karen Ellingson, Executive Dir., Maria Baldini-Potermin, Staff Atty., St. Paul.

Amicus curiae John M. Stuart, MN State Public Defender, Lawrence Hammerling, Deputy State Pub. Def., Cathryn Middlebrook, Asst. State Pub. Def., Minneapolis.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

PAGE, Justice.

In this case we review an unpublished decision of the court of appeals affirming the postconviction court's order denying appellant Roel Alanis's petition for postconviction relief in which he sought to withdraw his guilty plea. Alanis, who has lived in the United States for 32 years, is a 50-year-old resident alien from Mexico with a sixth-grade education and limited ability to read and write in English. On October 21, 1996, Alanis pled guilty to three felony offenses, including a second-degree controlled substance crime in violation of Minn.Stat. § 152.022, subds. 1(1) and 3(a) (1996); unlawfully obtaining Aid For Dependent Children (AFDC) in violation of Minn.Stat. §§ 256.98, subd. 1, 609.52, subd. 3(3)(a), and 609.05, subd. 1 (1996); and unlawfully obtaining food stamps in violation of Minn.Stat. §§ 393.07, subd. 10(c)(1), 609.52, subd. 3(4) and 609.05, subd. 1 (1996). Alanis also pled guilty to two misdemeanor offenses for possession of a small amount of marijuana and driving after his license had been revoked. On November 25, 1996, Alanis was sentenced to 54 months in prison for the controlled substance offense, 13 months for the AFDC offense, and 12 months for the food stamp offense, all sentences to run concurrently.

On April 9, 1997, Alanis filed a petition for postconviction relief in which he claimed that: (1) he was not advised that by pleading guilty he would be subject to deportation; (2) he had ineffective assistance of counsel; (3) the state promised him he would be immediately eligible for the Challenge Incarceration Program; (4) the court interpreter miscommunicated and/or mistranslated the court proceedings; (5) the plea petition used was not multilingual; and (6) he was innocent. The postconviction court denied the petition without an evidentiary hearing. In its memorandum of law supporting the denial of relief, the postconviction court noted that Minnesota courts have not addressed the issue of whether a criminal defendant must be informed in advance of a guilty plea that deportation is a possible consequence of a guilty plea and relied on federal case law ¹ to conclude that it is not necessary to provide such information. Further, the postconviction court concluded that defense counsel's failure to so inform Alanis of the possibility of deportation did not constitute ineffective assistance. The postconviction court also found that Alanis failed to show that the state made any promises to him regarding the Challenge Incarceration Program which were not met; that Alanis's claims regarding the plea petition and his claims of innocence were without merit; and that no manifest injustice had occurred. Finally, the postconviction court declined to hold an evidentiary hearing on Alanis's court interpreter claims because Alanis "failed to point to even one specific instance of miscommunication."

The court of appeals affirmed the postconviction court. The court of appeals found that Alanis's guilty plea was accurate, voluntary, and intelligent and therefore withdrawal of the plea was not necessary to correct a manifest injustice. The court of appeals also found that Alanis's claim of innocence was without merit, that his petition to withdraw his guilty plea was untimely, and that his claim that he did not understand the plea due to a language barrier was without support in the record. The court of appeals concluded that Alanis did not have a claim for ineffective assistance of counsel because his defense counsel was not required to advise Alanis of the collateral consequence of deportation. And finally, the court of appeals concluded that an evidentiary hearing was not warranted in this case because Alanis's "allegations lacked any factual or evidentiary basis."

On appeal to this court, Alanis argues that he should be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea to correct a manifest injustice, his defense attorney's failure to inform him that he would be deported if he pled guilty constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel, and that the lower courts erred in denying him an evidentiary hearing. Alanis, along with amici State Public Defender and Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, also ask this court to exercise its supervisory powers to require that district courts, before accepting guilty pleas, warn alien defendants that the plea may subject them to deportation. We conclude that withdrawal of his guilty plea is not necessary to correct a manifest injustice because Alanis's guilty plea was accurate, voluntary, and intelligent; that defense counsel's failure to inform him that deportation might be a consequence of his guilty plea did not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel; and that the postconviction court did not err when it denied him an evidentiary hearing. Therefore, we affirm.

The relevant facts are as follows. On December 28, 1995, a Polk County Sheriff's Department deputy was informed that a 16-year-old girl, J.G., was using cocaine. The deputy contacted J.G., and she told him that she had been buying cocaine in 1/2- and 1-gram quantities from a man who lived in an apartment in East Grand Forks. J.G. agreed to accompany the deputy and a Crookston police officer to East Grand Forks in order to identify the apartment. J.G. identified Alanis's apartment and indicated that she had been buying the cocaine from a man at the apartment named Roel. A search warrant for the apartment was obtained and during its execution, Maria Aguirre, who lived with Alanis and is the mother of his infant child, was taken into custody. While in custody, Aguirre informed the sheriff's deputy that Alanis used marijuana and cocaine and that she believed he was selling cocaine. She also admitted that their household was receiving welfare benefits but had not reported Alanis's income from cocaine sales. In addition to taking Aguirre into custody, the officers seized various items related to illegal drug activity from the apartment, including a small quantity of marijuana, trace amounts of cocaine, a scale, a container of inositol powder--an agent used to dilute powdered cocaine, almost $8,000 in cash, and televisions, VCRs, and stereo equipment the police believed had been exchanged for drugs.

On September 26, 1996, a nine-count complaint was filed against Alanis in Polk County, charging him with six controlled substance offenses, one child endangerment offense for selling drugs with a child present in the home, and two welfare fraud offenses. Through counsel, Alanis entered plea negotiations and reached an agreement with the Polk County Attorney's Office. The agreement called for Alanis to be sentenced to a maximum of 54 months in prison so that he would be eligible for entry into the Department of Corrections' Challenge Incarceration Program--a 6-month boot camp program. Alanis's guilty plea was taken at a plea hearing on October 21. At the hearing, Alanis was provided an interpreter. Being eligible to enter the boot camp program was a key factor in Alanis's decision to plead guilty, and repeatedly throughout the plea hearing, Alanis asked whether he would qualify for the program. Before accepting the plea, the district court explained to Alanis that the plea agreement contemplated that he would be sent to prison for a term not to exceed 54 months as called for by the sentencing guidelines. The district court also questioned him to verify that he understood what he was pleading guilty to and that he was waiving his right to trial. Alanis indicated that he understood. In addition, the district court asked him if he made any claim that he was innocent, to which...