Opinion ID: 853369
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Deportation as a Penal Consequence

Text: Because Segura alleges prejudice from advice as to deportation, we must decide as a threshold issue whether a failure to counsel about the possibility of deportation constitutes deficient performance as required under Hill. There is a split of authority on this point. The majority of federal circuit courts hold that, as a matter of law, failure to advise of the prospect of deportation as a result of conviction is not deficient performance by counsel in connection with a guilty plea. United States v. George, 869 F.2d 333, 337 (7th Cir.1989); United States v. Yearwood, 863 F.2d 6, 7-8 (4th Cir.1988); United States v. Campbell, 778 F.2d 764, 768-69 (11th Cir.1985). State courts are also split on the issue. Compare, e.g., Alanis v. State, 583 N.W.2d 573, 579 (Minn.1998), with State v. Figueroa, 639 A.2d 495, 499-500 (R.I.1994). The question has never been addressed by this Court, but the Indiana Court of Appeals has held that the consequence of deportation, whether labeled collateral or not, is of sufficient seriousness that it constitutes ineffective assistance for an attorney to fail to advise a noncitizen defendant of the deportation consequences of a guilty plea. Williams v. State, 641 N.E.2d 44, 49 (Ind.Ct.App.1994). We agree with the Court of Appeals that the failure to advise of the consequence of deportation can, under some circumstances, constitute deficient performance. Otherwise stated, we cannot say that this failure as a matter of law never constitutes deficient performance. Whether it is deficient in a given case is fact sensitive and turns on a number of factors. These presumably include the knowledge of the lawyer of the client's status as an alien, the client's familiarity with the consequences of conviction, the severity of criminal penal consequences, and the likely subsequent effects of deportation. Other factors undoubtedly will be relevant in given circumstances. The postconviction court found no deficient performance on the part of Segura's counsel. It is not clear, however, whether this was a holding that, as a matter of law, the failure to advise Segura of the risk of deportation was merely a collateral matter, or whether this was a finding of adequate performance on the facts of this case. [2] Because we conclude that Segura failed to establish the prejudice prong, we need not resolve this issue. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 697, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).