Court Opinion

ID: 9651621
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 16:29:10.03428+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:36.790207
License: Public Domain

STOUT, Justice,
concurring.
I find myself unable to join the majority opinion, so I write separately to express my own views.
Where is a defendant, especially a defendant who is new to this country and who may not even speak English, supposed to learn that one consequence to pleading guilty is that he will be deported? The majority states that “ ‘... allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel will serve as a basis for relief only if the ineffectiveness caused appellant to enter an involuntary or unknowing plea.’ ” Supra, at 555 (quoting Commonwealth v. Williams, 496 Pa. 486, 488, 437 A.2d 1144, 1146 (1981) (citing Commonwealth v. Jones, 477 Pa. 266, 383 A.2d 926 (1978))). In many cases it may be more probable than not that had counsel informed the defendant of the consequences of a guilty plea, the defendant would not have entered the plea.
While it may be too much to require a criminal defense attorney to become expert in the byzantine intricacies of immigration law, I would strongly urge a lawyer to make the client aware that there are consequences in terms of the client’s immigration status. While those consequences may not always be of paramount concern to every client, not to provide some warning is a great disservice to those few clients to whom it would be of paramount concern because of their immigrant status. Such a precaution would impose a minor burden on counsel and would be of great benefit to defendants.
*558Ever since William Penn first led the Society of Friends to Philadelphia, immigrants have sought refuge in America from the political and religious persecution in their native lands. The promise of a better life in America is held out not only to our children in schools but also to people throughout the world. Not to warn immigrant clients that a guilty plea might have an impact on their immigration status comes dangerously close to rendering this promise hollow.