Commonwealth v. Sylvain (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-170-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us SJC‑11400 COMMONWEALTH vs. KEMPESS SYLVAIN. Suffolk. May 6, 2013. ‑ September 13, 2013. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, Duffly, & Lenk, JJ. Controlled Substances. Alien. Constitutional Law, Plea, Assistance of counsel, Retroactivity of judicial holding. Due Process of Law, Plea, Assistance of counsel. Practice, Criminal, Plea, Assistance of counsel, Retroactivity of judicial holding. Complaint received and sworn to in the Dorchester Division of the Boston Municipal Court Department on April 17, 2007. A motion to vacate, filed on January 12, 2012, was heard by James W. Coffey, J., and a motion to reconsider was considered by him. The Supreme Judicial Court granted an application for direct appellate review. Wendy S. Wayne, Committee for Public Counsel Services, (Laura Mannion Banwarth with her) for the defendant. Cailin M. Campbell, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. The following submitted briefs for amici curiae: Christopher N. Lasch, of Colorado, for Massachusetts Legal Academics. Sejal Zota, of North Carolina, & Paromita Shah, Todd C. Pomerleau, & Sarah Unger for National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild & others. David M. Siegel for David M. Siegel & another. CORDY, J. In 2007, the defendant, Kempess Sylvain, a noncitizen lawfully residing in the United States, pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance, subjecting him to automatic deportation from the United States. After the defendant’s conviction was final, we decided Commonwealth v. Clarke, 460 Mass. 30, 34, 37, 45 (2011) (Clarke), which held that the rule announced in Padilla v. Kentucky, 130 S. Ct. 1473, 1483, 1486 (2010) (Padilla), regarding a criminal defendant’s right under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution to accurate advice as to the deportation consequences of a guilty plea, was not a “new” rule under Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288, 301, 310 (1989) (Teague), and therefore applied retroactively to cases on collateral review. Thereafter, the defendant filed a motion for a new trial seeking to vacate his guilty plea on the ground that his attorney was constitutionally deficient in erroneously advising him that there would be no deportation consequences stemming from his guilty plea. The defendant’s motion was denied, and he timely appealed. While the defendant’s appeal was pending, the United States Supreme Court decided Chaidez v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 1103, 1105, […]