The NJ Law Journal reports today:
A state appeals court has tightened the screws on judges accepting guilty pleas from non citizen criminal defendants that may cause their deportations. The message of State v. Gaitan, A-0197-09, decided Monday, is that it’s not enough to ask whether defendants have read and understood the question on the plea form dealing with possible deportation: They are entitled to an evidentiary hearing on whether they received effective assistance of counsel regarding the deportation consequences. The court also said the requirement applies retroactively to cases in the pipeline since rulings by the state Supreme Court, in State v. Nunez-Valdez, 200 N.J. 129 (2009), and the U.S. Supreme Court, in Padilla v. Kentucky, 130 S. Ct. 1472 (2010), that defense attorneys have an affirmative duty to so advise.
