Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: Plea warning about immigration consequences?

No, the required "advice of rights" mandated by the Court Rules do not include collateral consequences of a guilty or no contest plea, such as immigration or deportation.

The Michigan Supreme Court stated in People v Davidovich, 463 Mich 446; 618 NW2d 579 (2000) that a defendant could not withdraw a guilty plea based solely on his failure to appreciate the collateral consequences of his plea. Immigration consequences of a plea are collateral matters that do not bear on whether a criminal defendant's plea was knowing and voluntary. For the same reason, a failure by counsel to give immigration advice does not render the lawyer's representation constitutionally ineffective.

The US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Michigan) came to a similar conclusion in El-Nobani v US, 287 F3rd 417 (2002): A defendant need only be aware of the direct consequences of the plea, however; the trial court is under no constitutional obligation to inform the defendant of all the possible collateral consequences of the plea. Deportation is not within the control and responsibility of the federal district court, and hence, deportation is collateral to a conviction.

The state court must advise the defendant about DIRECT consequences of the plea, such as giving up the right to a trial and the rights that the defendant would have at a trial (right to testify or not testify, right to confront witnesses and have witnesses on his behalf subpoenaed to appear in court, right to court-appointed attorney, etc.). Most courts will also ask if the defendant is on probation, and will tell the defendant that the plea may result in a probation violation on the other case.

Aside from that, the list of "other things that might happen as a result of the plea" is too long and too individualized for every defendant. For example, one defendant might lose his job because of having ANY criminal conviction; another might lose a security clearance and be demoted because of one type of conviction; another defendant might lose a job because of a driver's license suspension; another defendant might risk deportation; etc. There is no possible way to fairly require trial court judges to either anticipate each defendant's individualized "other things" consequences during the Advice of Rights phase of the plea, or to ask every defendant an unlimited series of questions about the "other things".

Re: marlon palacios

No.

A criminal defense attorney who understands immigration law and the consequences of uninformed pleas by non-citizens is required.