Court Opinion

ID: 9474992
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:14:15.466948+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:15.833479
License: Public Domain

BARTELS, District Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result but, in all deference to the majority, must express my disagreement with the failure of the opinion to make it clear that failure of defense counsel to make a request for a recommendation against deportation does not per se constitute inadequate assistance of counsel.
While I hold some reservations concerning the decision that the procedure set out in 8 U.S.C. § 1251(b) is part of the sentencing process to which the Sixth Amendment applies (see opinion of former District Judge Miner, United States v. Janvier, 82 CR 114), I join the majority decision with the understanding that counsel’s failure to request a recommendation does not per se constitute ineffective assistance. Some additional circumstances must be present. The test for ineffective assistance is whether, in light of all the circumstances of a case, counsel’s acts or omissions were outside the range of professionally competent assistance. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052 (1984).
Obviously, any conclusion concerning counsel’s performance herein requires an evaluation of the particular circumstances of this case, and in particular an assessment of “professional norms” in this area, as well as of the prejudice, if any, caused to Janvier by counsel’s failure to request a recommendation. Accordingly, I agree that remand for such assessment is proper in this case.
Although we now hold that the unique procedure created by § 1251(b) is part of the sentencing process, it is well established that deportation proceedings are in all other respects civil proceedings, see INS v. Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. 1032,1038, 104 S.Ct. 3479, 3484 (1984). As such, they are, in practice, of only incidental concern to a defense attorney in a criminal prosecution. Furthermore, § 1251(b) itself focuses solely upon the sentencing judge’s role in making the recommendation and upon the opportunity for the Government to be heard. No mention is made in the statute of defendant’s counsel or the role such counsel should play in requesting non-deportation. Moreover, there is no assurance that the judge upon request of counsel would make such a recommendation. Under these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that in my experience as a district court judge, such requests for a recommendation under § 1251(b) very seldom have been made in the past. There may also be circumstances in which an attorney who was fully aware of 1251(b) would be justified in not making such a request. For example, counsel could conclude from the nature of the offense that the likelihood of securing a recommendation is so remote that a request would be unreasonable.
At all events, to hold that failure to request a recommendation in and of itself constitutes ineffective assistance, would in effect vitiate the thirty day limitation in a larger number of cases, and permit disruption of deportation proceedings beyond the thirty day limit. Before resorting to a per *457se rule, respect must be accorded the thirty day limitation on the sentencing court’s role.
In my opinion for the reasons above stated, failure to make a recommendation of non-deportation should not per se constitute ineffective assistance of counsel and the opinion should so state.