ASSADOLLAH GHANAVATI, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2002-06-12
No. 4D02-1280
WARNER, GROSS and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
820 So. 2d 989 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2002) Caution
Cited by 36 cases

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Holding

A defendant may withdraw a plea based on affirmative misadvice, even regarding collateral consequences, if prejudiced.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant may be entitled to withdraw a plea if they entered it in reliance on affirmative misadvice and were prejudiced by that misadvice, even if the misadvice concer…

[2] Affirmative misadvice regarding collateral consequences of a plea may form the basis for withdrawing the plea.

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Facts & Procedural History

Appellant pleaded nolo contendere and was placed on probation. He later sought to vacate his plea, alleging his attorney affirmatively misadvised him …

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Assadollah Ghanavati appeals the summary denial of his Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 motion for postconviction relief. We reverse and remand for an evidentiary hearing.

On February 9, 1987, appellant entered a plea of nolo contendere, adjudication was withheld, and he was placed on two years of probation. On September 10, 2001, he filed the instant motion for post-conviction relief, seeking to vacate his plea, alleging that he first learned of the threat of deportation on July 11, 2001, when the Immigration and Naturalization Service arrested him and commenced a deportation action against him based solely on the 1987 plea. We agree with the trial court that the motion was timely because it was filed within two years of that date. See Peart v. State, 756 So. 2d 42, 46 (Fla.2000).

We also agree the trial court properly rejected appellant’s claim to be entitled to relief on the merits pursuant to Peart, which by its very language applies to cases in which there was a violation of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172(c)(8) (requiring trial courts, in determining the voluntariness of a nolo or guilty plea, to determine that the defendant understands that his or her plea could subject him or her to deportation if he or she is not a United States citizen). That subdivision of the rule did not become effective until January 1, 1989, almost two years after appellant entered the plea in question. See In re Amendments to Fla. Rules of Criminal Procedure, 536 So. 2d 992, 992-93 (Fla.1988).

We agree with the third district that State v. Ginebra, 511 So. 2d 960, 961 (Fla.1987) (finding deportation to be a collateral consequence of which the trial court was not required to advise), still controls with respect to pleas entered prior to the change in'rule 3.172. See State v. Richardson, 785 So. 2d 585, 588 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001).

However, we conclude that appellant’s allegation of positive misadvice renders his motion legally sufficient. Attached to his motion was the affidavit of the attorney who represented him at the time of his plea, who stated as follows:

Because it was not required at the time, neither I, the state, nor the court advised Ghanavati of the possible deportation consequences of accepting such a plea. On the contrary, I specifically advised Ghanavati that there would be no adjudication of guilt if he accepted the plea and there would never be any further repercussions at all arising from or relating to the charges or the plea itself

Also attached was appellant’s affidavit, stating that he accepted the state’s offer only because his attorney specifically advised him that there would be no adjudication of guilt and there would never be any further repercussions from or .relating to the charges or the plea; had he been advised of the potential deportation consequences of the plea, he never would have accepted the state’s offer and changed his plea.

When a defendant enters a plea in reliance on affirmative misadvice and demonstrates that he or she was thereby prejudiced, the defendant may be entitled to withdraw the plea even if the misadvice concerns a collateral consequence as to which the trial court was under no obligation to advise him or her. See State v. Sallato, 519 So. 2d 605 (Fla.1988) (remanding for trial court to determine whether defendant was given positive misadvice where defendant alleged he asked counsel whether the plea would jeopardize his chances of becoming a permanent citizen of the United States and counsel replied in the negative); Murphy v. State, 820 So. 2d 375, 376 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002) (reversing order summarily denying motion for post-conviction relief and noting “[t]his court has held that affirmative misadvice, regarding even collateral consequences of a plea, may form the basis for withdrawing the plea”); Love v. State, 814 So. 2d 475, 478 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002) (reversing summary denial of motion for postconviction relief where defendant alleged counsel misadvised him that nolo plea would not function as guilty plea and could not be used against him in any subsequent proceeding, but plea was used to enhance federal sentence for subsequent offense).

See also Watrous v. State, 793 So. 2d 6, 11 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (reversing -denial of postconviction relief for evidentiary hearing on defendant’s claim that counsel misadvised him that after entering his plea, he would be releásed from custody almost immediately based on amount of time already served, but instead state filed petition for his involuntary civil commitment as sexually violent predator; noting that “[i]t is well-settled that affirmative misad-vice regarding even collateral consequences of a plea forms a basis for withdrawing the plea”).

But see Collier v. State, 796 So. 2d 629, 630 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001) (holding affirmative misadvice about enhancement consequences of plea does not constitute basis for postconviction relief).

As the motion for postconviction relief . stated a cognizable claim, and the record does not refute the allegations, we reverse for an evidentiary hearing on the motion.

WARNER, GROSS and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By (18 total)

  • State v. Owran Green, 944 So. 2d 208 (Fla. 2006)
    …od governing other posteon-viction claims under rule 3.850(b) are nonetheless timely under Peart. Cases in which initiation of deportation proceedings constitutes the threatened deportation involve some of the longest delays. In Ghanavati v. State, 820 So. 2d 989 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), the Fourth District ruled that a motion to withdraw a plea entered fourteen years earlier was timely because it was filed within two years of the date when the defendant learned that INS had commenced a deportation action agains…
  • EY v. State, 982 So. 2d 618 (Fla. 2008)
    …Although the issue has not always been framed in terms of ineffective assistance of counsel, other courts, as well, have found erroneous advice about collateral consequences of a plea to justify the plea’s withdrawal. See, e.g., Ghanavati v. State, 820 So. 2d 989, 991 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002) (‘When a defendant enters a plea in reliance on affirmative misadvice and demonstrates that he or she was thereby prejudiced, the defendant may be entitled to withdraw the plea even if the misadvice concerns a collateral con…
  • State v. Freijo, 987 So. 2d 190 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008)
    …” were filed many years after the entry of the plea: State v. Lindo, 863 So. 2d 1237 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003), filed twelve years after the plea; Alfaro v. State, 828 So. 2d 1056 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002), filed fifteen years after the plea; Ghanavati v. State, 820 So. 2d 989 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), filed fourteen years after the plea; and Gray v. State, 774 So. 2d 30 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000), filed ten years after the plea. Green, 944 So. 2d at 214. The Court described the problems flowing from such delays: Delayed filing hampe…

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