Opinion ID: 1586914
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: peart v. state

Text: In Peart, we reviewed a decision of the Third District that consolidated five appeals. Four defendants, two who were in custody and two who were not, filed petitions for writs of error coram nobis. Another defendant, who was in custody, moved for postconviction relief under rule 3.850. All five sought to withdraw their pleas on grounds that they were not advised by the trial court of immigration consequences of the pleas. Peart, 756 So.2d at 44. The Third District ruled that the defendants not in custody did not satisfy the requirements for error coram nobis because the failure to advise the defendants of immigration consequences was an error of law and coram nobis was available to address errors of fact or newly discovered evidence. The district court ruled that the defendants in custody who sought the writ should have filed their claims under rule 3.850, but that their claims were untimely because they were filed more than two years after their judgments and sentences became final. Finally, the Third District ruled that the defendant in custody who filed his claim under rule 3.850 would have to file a new motion alleging that, had he declined the plea offer and gone to trial, he probably would have been acquitted. Id. (citing Peart v. State, 705 So.2d 1059, 1062-63 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)). Our decision in Peart incorporated three holdings, one for each of the procedural postures. First, consistent with our then recent decision in Wood v. State, 750 So.2d 592 (Fla.1999), we determined that rule 3.850 would henceforth be the proper postconviction vehicle in which to raise a violation of rule 3.172(c)(8) regardless of whether the defendant is in custody. Peart, 756 So.2d at 46. Second, we held that the two-year limitations period under rule 3.850 begins to run when the defendant has or should have knowledge of the threat of deportation based on the plea. Id. Third, the Court held that a defendant raising this claim need not prove a likelihood of acquittal had the case gone to trial in order to establish prejudice as required for relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172(i). Peart, 756 So.2d at 47-48. [2] On the second of Peart's three holdings, the Court stated that in order for a defendant to establish a prima facie case for relief, the defendant must be threatened with deportation resulting from the plea. Since the day the defendant gains (or should gain) knowledge of the threat of deportation is the first day the defendant can actually articulate a prima facie case, it stands to reason that the day the defendant learns of the threat should likewise start the running of the two-year limitation period. Id. at 46 (citation omitted). On the showing of prejudice required, we approvingly cited district court decisions holding that to show prejudice pursuant to a rule 3.172(c)(8) violation, defendants had to establish that they did not know that the plea might result in deportation, that they were threatened with deportation because of the plea, and that had they known of the possible consequence they would not have entered the plea. Id. at 47. In a partially dissenting opinion in which he was joined by Chief Justice Harding and Justice Quince, Justice Wells asserted that the majority's rejection of a requirement that the defendant establish probable acquittal had the case gone to trial would result in stale claims, contrary to the requirement in rule 3.850 that motions be filed within two years after the judgment and sentence become final. Id. at 52 (Wells, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Justice Wells pointed out that neither of the exceptions to the two-year deadlinenewly discovered evidence or assertion of a fundamental constitutional right established only after the two-year periodapplied in any of the five cases. Id.