State v. Muhire
| Decision Date | 02 September 2022 |
| Docket Number | 29164 |
| Citation | 2022 Ohio 3078 |
| Parties | STATE OF OHIO Plaintiff-Appellee v. JEAN BOSCO MUHIRE Defendant-Appellant |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
2022-Ohio-3078
STATE OF OHIO Plaintiff-Appellee
v.
JEAN BOSCO MUHIRE Defendant-Appellant
No. 29164
Court of Appeals of Ohio, Second District, Montgomery
September 2, 2022
Criminal Appeal from Municipal Court Trial Court Case No. 2018-CRB-827
STEPHANIE L. COOK, Atty. Reg. No. 0067101 and ANDREW D. SEXTON, Atty. Reg. No. 0070892, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, City of Dayton Prosecutor's Office, Attorneys for Plaintiff-Appellee
MOHAMED Al-HAMDANI, Atty. Reg. No. 0091667, Attorney for Defendant-Appellant
OPINION
WELBAUM, J.
{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Jean Bosco Muhire, appeals from a judgment of the Dayton Municipal Court denying his post-sentence motion to withdraw his guilty plea. In support of his appeal, Muhire contends that the trial court should have granted his motion because he had a limited understanding of the English language, which prevented him from entering a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary guilty plea. Muhire also claims that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to appoint an interpreter at his plea hearing. In addition, Muhire contends that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to advise him of the potential immigration consequences of his guilty plea. For the reasons outlined below, the judgment of the trial court will be affirmed.
Facts and Course of Proceedings
{¶ 2} Muhire is a refugee who came to the United States from Rwanda in May 2017; his native language is Kinyarwanda. On February 15, 2018, Muhire was charged by complaint with one first-degree-misdemeanor count of domestic violence, one fourthdegree-misdemeanor count of domestic violence, and single first-degree-misdemeanor counts of assault, aggravated menacing, and menacing. Muhire initially pled not guilty to all of the charges at his arraignment, but he later accepted a plea offer requiring him to plead guilty to one count of assault. In exchange for Muhire's guilty plea, the State agreed to amend the first-degree-misdemeanor count of domestic violence to assault and to dismiss all the remaining charges.
{¶ 3} Although Muhire spoke Kinyarwanda, the trial court stamped the arraignment
entry with the phrase: "Order Interpreter - Swahili." Arraignment (Feb. 15, 2018). For unknown reasons, no interpreter, Swahili or otherwise, ever appeared at Muhire's March 8, 2018 plea hearing. During the plea hearing, Muhire did not request an interpreter's assistance nor did he express a lack of understanding as to what the trial court was saying during the hearing. Instead, Muhire entered his guilty plea to assault pursuant to the plea agreement. In doing so, Muhire signed a plea form that contained the following advisement regarding the immigration consequences of his guilty plea:
The Court advised me of the following: "If you are not a citizen of the United States you are hereby advised that conviction of the offense to which you are pleading guilty or no contest may have the consequences of deportation exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization pursuant to the laws of the United States."
Plea of Guilty or No Contest and Waiver of Rights (Mar. 8, 2018).
{¶ 4} The trial court discussed the foregoing immigration language with Muhire and asked if Muhire understood it. In response, Muhire indicated that he understood what the trial court had said. The trial court thereafter accepted Muhire's guilty plea and proceeded to sentencing.
{¶ 5} At sentencing, the trial court ordered Muhire to serve 180 days in jail with 157 days suspended and 23 days of jail-time credit. The trial court also ordered Muhire to complete one year of supervised probation, drug and alcohol counseling, and a batterer's intervention program known as the August Project. On April 12, 2018, the trial court modified Muhire's sentence to require him to complete the Stop the Violence program as
opposed the August Project.
{¶ 6} On December 18, 2018, Muhire was discharged from supervised probation. Almost two years later, on August 18, 2020, Muhire hired counsel and filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea to assault. In that motion, Muhire argued that his guilty plea had not been knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily entered because he had a limited understanding of the English language and had required the assistance of an interpreter at the plea hearing. Muhire also argued that his trial counsel had provided ineffective assistance by failing to advise him of the immigration consequences of his guilty plea and by not using an interpreter to speak with him.
{¶ 7} On October 21, 2020, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing on Muhire's motion to withdraw his guilty plea. At the hearing, Muhire testified in support of his motion and used a Kinyarwanda interpreter [1] to translate for him during the entire proceeding. Thereafter, the State presented testimony from the appointed attorney who represented Muhire during his plea, Melissa Pfahler. The State also presented testimony from Muhire's probation officer, Stephanie Jackson. The following is a summary of the testimony that was presented at the hearing.
Jean Bosco Muhire
{¶ 8} Muhire testified that he was born in Congo and came to the United States as
a refugee from Rwanda in May 2017. Muhire claimed that he spoke very little English when he arrived in the United States and that Kinyarwanda was his first language. Muhire testified that, despite taking some English grammar classes, he did not understand everything that was being said when he conversed in English. Muhire claimed that he conversed in English by extending the meaning of the English words he knew in order to understand the topic of conversation.
{¶ 9} With regard to his criminal case, Muhire testified that he was appointed counsel after he was charged with domestic violence, assault, aggravated menacing, and menacing in February 2018. Muhire testified that his counsel had not used an interpreter to speak with him during their meetings and that he had not understood everything his counsel told him. Muhire also testified that he had told his counsel about the incident that led to the aforementioned charges, but that he had not been sure how much of the information his counsel understood.
{¶ 10} Concerning his charges, Muhire testified that his counsel had advised him that assault and domestic violence were similar charges, but that assault was "better" because he could be deported if he was convicted of domestic violence. Hearing Tr., (Oct. 21, 2020), p. 13. Muhire testified that he did not remember his counsel ever advising him of the immigration consequences of entering a guilty plea to assault. Muhire also testified that he signed a bunch of papers with the understanding that doing so would allow him to get out of jail. Muhire claimed that he could not read English and did not know what the papers said. Muhire further testified that, at the time of his plea, he did not know the meaning of the term "plea deal." Hearing Tr., p. 57.
{¶ 11} Continuing, Muhire testified that he had recently applied for a green card with the assistance of an attorney. According to Muhire, his application prompted an interview with immigration services. Muhire testified that the interview had worried the attorney who was helping him and that the attorney believed the interview had been conducted due to his assault conviction. As a result, the attorney referred Muhire to his current counsel, who helped him withdraw his application for a green card. Muhire testified that his immigration status is now in limbo.
{¶ 12} On cross-examination, Muhire clarified that, despite using an interpreter, he understood some of what was being said at the plea withdraw hearing. Muhire then testified about a "long" conversation he had with his trial counsel while in jail and confirmed that he had never asked his counsel for an interpreter. Hearing Tr., p. 27-33. Muhire also confirmed that he had testified without the assistance of an interpreter on December 13, 2018, at his wife's trial in Dayton Municipal Court Case No. 2018-CRB-5700. The State played an audio-recorded portion of Muhire's trial testimony in that case, and Muhire confirmed that the voice testifying on the recording was his own.
{¶ 13} Concerning his guilty plea to assault, Muhire testified that he remembered the trial court judge reading him a form at the plea hearing before he entered his plea, but had not understood what the judge was saying. Muhire testified that his counsel told him that the text of the form was read to every immigrant and that it was of "no consequence." Hearing Tr., p. 51. The State then played an audio recording of the trial court judge's reading Muhire the portion of the plea form advising him of the immigration consequences of his guilty plea at the plea hearing. After listening to the audio recording, Muhire
testified that it would have been "possible" for him to have told the judge that he did not understand what the judge was saying. Hearing Tr., p. 53-54, 61. Muhire, however, indicated that he did not express his lack of understanding at the plea hearing because his counsel told him to accept what the judge said.
Melissa Pfahler
{¶ 14} Muhire's appointed counsel, Melissa Pfahler, testified that based on Muhire's being a Rwandan refugee and having been in the United States for a short period of time, it was her first impression that Muhire would need an interpreter. However, Pfahler's testimony indicates that this impression changed after Pfahler met Muhire in person. Pfahler testified that she met with Muhire four times between February 21, 2018, and March 8, 2018. Although Pfahler did not have an independent recollection of her meetings with Muhire, she testified that her case notes established that she had no issue communicating with Muhire in English. Pfahler testified that her case notes were "pretty clear" that...
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