DEFENDANT WAS NOT INFORMED HIS GUILTY PLEA COULD RESULT IN DEPORTATION; THE ISSUE NEED NOT BE PRESERVED FOR APPEAL; MATTER REMITTED TO GIVE DEFENDANT THE OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE TO WITHDRAW HIS GUILTY PLEA (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, remitting the matter to Supreme Court, determined defendant should be given the opportunity to withdraw his guilty plea because he was not informed of the possibility of deportation. The issue was not subject to the preservation requirement for appeal:

… [T]he defendant’s contention that his due process rights were violated due to the Supreme Court’s failure to warn him that his pleas could subject him to deportation is excepted from the requirement of preservation because the record does not demonstrate that the defendant was aware that he could be deported as a consequence of his pleas of guilty … . Indeed, here, the record shows that the court failed to address the possibility of deportation as a consequence of the defendant’s pleas of guilty … . Inasmuch as there is no indication in the record that the defendant was aware that he could be deported as a result of his pleas … , the defendant had no “practical ability” to object to the court’s comment about immigration consequences or to otherwise tell the court, if he chose, that he would not have pleaded guilty if he had known about the possibility of deportation … .

… [W]e remit the matters to the Supreme Court, Kings County, to afford the defendant an opportunity to move to vacate his pleas of guilty and for a report by the Supreme Court thereafter … . Any such motion shall be made by the defendant within 60 days after the date of this decision and order … . Upon such motion, the defendant will have the burden of establishing that there is a “reasonable probability” that he would not have pleaded guilty had the court warned him of the possibility of deportation … . People v Bamugo, 2021 NY Slip Op 06363, Second Dept 11-17,21