Commonwealth v. Henry ( 2015 )


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    13-P-894                                              Appeals Court
    COMMONWEALTH    vs.    LISTON G. HENRY (and a companion case1).
    No. 13-P-894.
    Barnstable.      June 3, 2015. - October 2, 2015.
    Present:    Kafker, C.J., Rubin, & Milkey, JJ.
    Abuse Prevention. Alien. Practice, Criminal, Plea, Assistance
    of counsel, Findings by judge. Constitutional Law, Plea,
    Assistance of counsel. Due Process of Law, Plea,
    Assistance of counsel.
    Complaint received and sworn to in the Barnstable Division
    of the District Court Department on July 29, 2004.
    A motion to withdraw a guilty plea and for a new trial,
    filed on February 28, 2013, was considered by H. Gregory
    Williams, J., and a motion for reconsideration was heard by him.
    Complaint received and sworn to in the Barnstable Division
    of the District Court Department on March 17, 2005.
    A motion to withdraw a guilty plea and for a new trial,
    filed on February 28, 2013, was considered by Joan E. Lynch, J.,
    and a motion for reconsideration also was considered by her.
    1
    The companion case involves a second complaint against the
    same defendant. We note that the copy of that complaint in the
    record appendix identifies the defendant by the name Henry
    Liston.
    2
    Maurice A. Reidy, III, for the defendant.
    Elizabeth Anne Sweeney, Assistant District Attorney, for
    the Commonwealth.
    KAFKER, C.J.   The defendant, Liston G. Henry, appeals from
    the denials of his motions to withdraw his 2004 and 2005 guilty
    pleas to two violations of G. L. c. 209A abuse prevention orders
    and one count of witness intimidation.    He claims to have
    received ineffective assistance of counsel regarding the
    immigration effects of pleading guilty to the charges, as he was
    not informed that the abuse prevention order violations were
    deportable offenses and because the defendant, then a lawful
    permanent resident of the United States, was consequently
    deported to Jamaica in 2013 and thereby separated from his
    extended family in the United States.    We vacate the orders
    denying the defendant's motions to withdraw his pleas and remand
    for further factual findings on both motions.
    1.   Background.   According to the application for the first
    complaint, on July 29, 2004, Yarmouth police officer Sean Brewer
    was dispatched to the home of Robin Edwards.    Edwards reported
    that she had an active restraining order against the defendant,
    who is her former boy friend and the father of her son.       The
    restraining order in question, which included a no-contact
    provision, had been issued from the Probate and Family Court and
    served in-hand on the defendant the previous day, July 28, 2004.
    3
    Edwards informed Officer Brewer that at 9:42 that morning (July
    29) she received a telephone call.    She stated that when she
    answered the call, the defendant was on the telephone and yelled
    at her for taking away his visitation rights with their son,
    stated that he was going to contact DSS2 to have them take their
    son away from her, and concluded that if DSS did not do so then
    he would, and then "she would get what was coming to her."       At
    that point, Edwards hung up the telephone.
    As a result of this incident, a complaint issued from the
    District Court later that day, charging the defendant with one
    count of violating an abuse prevention order, in violation of
    G. L. c. 209A, § 7.    Several days later the defendant was
    arraigned and entered a plea of not guilty.    Counsel Phillip
    Deyoung was appointed on August 30, 2004, and after two
    continuances, the defendant admitted to sufficient facts on
    October 27, 2004.3    The defendant received a continuation without
    a finding and was put on administrative probation.    The docket
    reflects that during the plea colloquy the judge administered
    the alien warnings required by G. L. c. 278, § 29D.
    2
    Now called the Department of Children and Families.
    3
    In evaluating immigration consequences, "it remains
    appropriate to treat an admission to sufficient facts as the
    equivalent of a plea of guilty," and we do so here.
    Commonwealth v. Grannum, 
    457 Mass. 128
    , 130 n.4 (2010) (citation
    omitted).
    4
    According to the application for the second complaint
    against the defendant, approximately five months later, on March
    12, 2005, at 10:50 P.M., Edwards heard knocking at the rear door
    of her residence.   She opened the door and the defendant entered
    the house in violation of another abuse prevention order, which
    required the defendant to leave and stay away from the premises.
    Upon entry, the defendant first stated that he had to use the
    bathroom.    He then went on to tell Edwards that they would start
    dating again, he would get her a ring, and they would get
    married.    Edwards asked him to leave and said that her boy
    friend was upstairs.   The defendant told her he would not exit
    the house until she made the boy friend leave.     Edwards
    attempted to call the police, but the defendant grabbed the
    telephone and pulled the telephone cord from the wall.       Edwards
    went to the upstairs bedroom and used her cellular telephone
    (cell phone) to call the police.    After placing the call,
    Edwards went downstairs with her cell phone, which the defendant
    attempted to wrestle away from her.    She received two scratches
    to her right forearm during the struggle.
    On March 17, 2005, the District Court issued the second
    complaint against the defendant, charging him with one count of
    violating an abuse prevention order, in violation of G. L.
    c. 209A, § 7, and one count of intimidating a witness, in
    violation of G. L. c. 268, § 13B.     On April 27, 2005, the
    5
    defendant was arraigned, counsel Thomas Rugo was appointed, and
    the defendant entered pleas of not guilty.   Four continuances
    later, the defendant changed his pleas to guilty on August 31,
    2005, in a plea proceeding before a second judge, who imposed
    probationary sentences.   Again, the required statutory alien
    warnings were provided to the defendant during the plea
    colloquy.
    The defendant is a Jamaican citizen and at the times of
    both plea proceedings was a lawful permanent resident of the
    United States.   As a consequence of his guilty pleas and
    convictions, on June 10, 2010, the defendant received a notice
    to appear in removal proceedings before a United States
    immigration judge, and was placed in custody on December 4,
    2010.   The defendant appeared at four master's hearings; three
    continuances were granted, but on March 1, 2013, he was ordered
    removed to Jamaica.   After appealing the order to the Board of
    Immigration Appeals and to the United States Court of Appeals
    for the First Circuit, the defendant was removed on December 19,
    2013.   The defendant's family members -- including his three
    children, ages thirty-one, twenty-seven, and ten, and their
    mothers -- all live in and are citizens of the United States.
    Prior to his removal, on February 28, 2013, the defendant
    filed motions to withdraw his 2004 and 2005 pleas.   The motions,
    identical in each case, were supported by affidavits of the
    6
    defendant and Edwards.   The defendant's affidavit averred that
    Edwards had falsified her allegations amid crack cocaine
    addiction and conflict over their child, that neither of the
    defendant's plea attorneys asked him if he was a United States
    citizen or told him he could face deportation for admitting to
    the charges,4 and that had he been so advised he instead would
    have insisted on going to trial.   In Edwards's affidavit, she
    recanted her accusations against the defendant.   Edwards stated
    that she suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder due to abuse
    from her former husband, and that during the time period in
    question she was addicted to cocaine.   She indicated that she
    has been sober since June 14, 2010, and wishes to make amends
    for her false accusations against the defendant, which she
    fabricated both to prevent the defendant from interfering with
    her drug use and to retaliate against him for seeing another
    woman.
    Originally the defendant's motions were denied in March of
    2013 without a hearing, on the basis that Padilla v. Kentucky,
    
    559 U.S. 356
    , 366, 373-374 (2010), does not apply retroactively
    to cases on collateral review in Federal court.   See Chaidez v.
    United States, 
    133 S. Ct. 1103
    , 1105, 1111 (2013).   (The
    4
    The defendant stated, "Both lawyers just said if you plead
    guilty you can get out of jail today, and get right back to
    work, and everything will be fine."
    7
    original rulings were in error, as Padilla does apply
    retroactively under Massachusetts law.    See Commonwealth v.
    Clarke, 
    460 Mass. 30
    , 45 [2011]; Commonwealth v. Sylvain, 
    466 Mass. 422
    , 423-424 [2013].)    After the defendant's motion to
    reconsider was denied, the defendant filed a notice of appeal
    for both the 2004 and 2005 matters on April 29, 2013.     We then
    granted the defendant's motion to stay the appeal on November
    25, 2013, to allow him to present in the trial court a renewed
    motion to reconsider his motions to withdraw his pleas.     The
    renewed motion, filed on February 14, 2014, was supported by
    additional affidavits, of both plea counsel.    According to
    attorney Deyoung's affidavit, Deyoung's case file for the
    defendant has been destroyed and Deyoung has no memory of his
    representation of the defendant regarding the 2004 charge.
    Similarly, attorney Rugo's affidavit stated that his case file
    for the defendant has been discarded, and that he has no
    recollection of any details pertaining to his representation of
    the defendant on the 2005 charges.
    On February 24, 2014, the plea judge on the 2005 case
    engaged in reconsideration and, reviewing the entire case file
    but without holding an evidentiary hearing, again denied the
    motion to withdraw the plea.   She ruled as follows:
    "In the context of a guilty plea, the defendant bears the
    burden of proving that he had an 'available, substantial
    ground of defence.' Commonwealth v. Saferian, 
    366 Mass. 8
    89[, 96] (1974). In the instant case, the Commonwealth
    presented a compelling case in which the defendant entered
    the victim's home in violation of a restraining order,
    wrestled one phone away from her when she attempted to call
    police and followed her upstairs when she tried to use a
    second cell phone. Police responded to the home shortly
    after the event. The Court finds that the affidavits
    signed by the victim, eight years after the event, and the
    defendant, only after he became the subject of deportation
    proceedings, lack credibility."
    As to the 2004 case, the judge who had taken the plea also
    undertook reconsideration, and ordered that an evidentiary
    hearing be scheduled.   During this hearing, Deyoung testified
    that although he had no recollection of his representation of
    the defendant, his standard practice was that, as the judge
    found, "whenever he suspected any potential immigration
    consequences . . . might befall a defendant, he would recommend
    that that client communicate with an immigration attorney."5     On
    June 23, 2014, the judge denied the motion to withdraw the plea
    as to the 2004 case.    He contrasted the immigration effects of
    violations of G. L. c. 209A abuse prevention orders with those
    of drug offenses, stating,
    "'[T]here undoubtedly will be situations in which the
    deportation [or other immigration] consequences of a
    particular plea are unclear or uncertain, and counsel's
    duty more limited' [than in a drug case where the
    consequences are clear and certain]. [Commonwealth v.]
    DeJesus, [
    468 Mass. 174
    ,] 180 [2014]. This is such a case.
    5
    Deyoung also testified that it was his practice to read
    and review the "green sheet" (the tender of plea and waiver of
    rights form) with the client, including the alien rights warning
    it contained.
    9
    It is difficult to determine that counsel should have done
    more in 2004 than he did, and therefore difficult to find
    that counsel's behavior fell 'measurably below that which
    might be expected from an ordinary fallible lawyer.'
    [Commonwealth v.] Clarke, [460 Mass.] at 45."
    Regarding the prejudice prong of the Saferian standard, the
    judge stated, "[c]oncluding that any of [the possible means of
    establishing prejudice described in Commonwealth v. 
    DeJesus, supra
    at 183], were it necessary to reach them, had been
    demonstrated would have been a stretch for this Court."
    Subsequently we vacated our previous stay, and we now
    consider the defendant's consolidated appeals from these final
    orders denying his motions to withdraw his pleas.
    2.   Discussion.     A motion to withdraw a guilty plea is
    treated as a motion for a new trial.     Commonwealth v. 
    DeJesus, 468 Mass. at 178
    .   In accordance with Mass.R.Crim.P. 30(b), as
    appearing in 
    435 Mass. 1501
    (2001), a motion judge "may grant a
    new trial at any time if it appears that justice may not have
    been done."   "A motion for a new trial is thus committed to the
    sound discretion of the judge."     Commonwealth v. Scott, 
    467 Mass. 336
    , 344 (2014).    While the defendant bears the burden of
    proof on a motion for a new trial, and the motion judge is
    entitled to discredit affidavits, Commonwealth v. Marinho, 
    464 Mass. 115
    , 123 (2013), the motion judge must make "such findings
    of fact as are necessary to resolve the defendant's allegations
    10
    of error of law."   Mass.R.Crim.P. 30(b).   See Commonwealth v.
    Grace, 
    397 Mass. 303
    , 305 (1986); Commonwealth v. 
    Scott, supra
    .
    The defendant argues that his pleas to the 2004 and 2005
    charges should be vacated and he should be granted new trials
    because (1) he was denied effective assistance of counsel due to
    the failures of both plea counsel to fully inform him of the
    immigration consequences of his pleas, (2) his pleas were not
    knowing and voluntary due to the faulty advice of counsel, and
    (3) justice was not done as demonstrated by the victim's
    recantation of her allegations.   For the reasons that follow, we
    conclude that in order to decide the defendant's rule 30(b)
    motions, the judges were required to make additional findings of
    fact that were both necessary to resolve the legal issues raised
    therein and not addressed in the judges' previous fact-finding.
    A.   Ineffective assistance claims.     "Before deciding
    whether to plead guilty, a defendant is entitled to 'the
    effective assistance of competent counsel.'"     Padilla v.
    
    Kentucky, 559 U.S. at 364
    (citation omitted).     In order to
    prevail on his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, the
    defendant bears the substantial burden of demonstrating both
    that (1) the conduct of his counsel fell "measurably below that
    which might be expected from an ordinary fallible lawyer," and
    (2) this conduct "likely deprived the defendant of an otherwise
    available, substantial ground of defence."     Commonwealth v.
    11
    
    Saferian, 366 Mass. at 96
    .    We conclude that a remand is
    required here on both motions as the fact-finding and legal
    analysis are incomplete in both decisions, on each prong of the
    ineffective assistance of counsel test.     See Commonwealth v.
    
    Sylvain, 466 Mass. at 439
    (remand on prejudice prong).
    i.   Performance prong.     The defendant asserts that counsel
    for both his 2004 and 2005 guilty pleas never asked whether he
    was a United States citizen or informed him that pleading to the
    G. L. c. 209A offenses would subject him to mandatory
    deportation.   In determining whether the defendant met his
    burden under the performance prong of the Saferian standard, we
    must first address what level of advice plea counsel were
    constitutionally required to provide the defendant given the
    charges against him.
    In Padilla v. Kentucky, the United States Supreme Court
    established that defense counsel must apprise a client of the
    immigration consequences of a plea when such consequences can be
    "easily determined" via reference to "succinct, clear, and
    explicit" statutory 
    language. 559 U.S. at 368
    .   Here, at the
    time of the plea proceedings, 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2) (2000)
    listed the criminal offenses constituting applicable grounds for
    deportation of aliens such as the defendant.    Included in this
    list at that time (and since unchanged) were "crime[s] of
    domestic violence" and certain violations of "protection
    12
    orders."   8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i), (ii).6   Specifically as to
    the latter, "[a]ny alien who at any time after admission is
    enjoined under a protection order issued by a court and whom the
    court determines has engaged in conduct that violates the
    portion of a protection order that involves protection against
    credible threats of violence, repeated harassment, or bodily
    injury to the person or persons for whom the protection order
    was issued is deportable."7   8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(ii).   Such
    a conviction makes the chance of deportation almost certain, as
    recently reiterated by the Supreme Judicial Court:     "After the
    1996 effective date of amendments to the 1952 Immigration and
    Nationality Act, . . . 'if a noncitizen has committed a
    removable offense . . . , his removal is practically
    inevitable,' subject to limited exceptions."     Commonwealth v.
    
    DeJesus, 468 Mass. at 180
    , quoting from Padilla v. 
    Kentucky, 559 U.S. at 363-364
    .
    6
    Importantly for the practicing bar, we note that as of
    this writing there has been no change to the operative language
    of 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E), a provision which was added to the
    statute by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
    Responsibility Act of 1996.
    7
    The statute continues, "For purposes of this clause, the
    term 'protection order' means any injunction issued for the
    purpose of preventing violent or threatening acts of domestic
    violence, including temporary or final orders issued by civil or
    criminal courts (other than support or child custody orders or
    provisions) whether obtained by filing an independent action or
    as a pendente lite order in another proceeding." 8 U.S.C.
    § 1227(a)(2)(E)(ii).
    13
    Each of the defendant's attorneys "could have easily
    determined that his plea would make him eligible for deportation
    simply from reading the text of the statute, which addresses not
    some broad classification of crimes but specifically commands
    removal" for these violations of the protection orders.     Padilla
    v. 
    Kentucky, supra
    at 368.    As such, "[c]ounsel therefore was
    obligated to provide to his client, in language that the client
    could comprehend, the information that presumptively mandatory
    deportation would have been the legal consequence of pleading
    guilty.    Stated differently, counsel needed to convey that, if
    Federal authorities apprehended the defendant, deportation would
    be practically inevitable."    Commonwealth v. 
    DeJesus, 468 Mass. at 181
    .8
    Concluding that the law regarding the immigration
    consequences of the defendant's pleas was "succinct and
    straightforward," Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. at 369,9 we turn
    8
    While, in total, the defendant here pleaded guilty to two
    counts of violation of an abuse prevention order and one count
    of intimidation of a witness, the parties' arguments on appeal
    focus on the abuse prevention order charges. We likewise have
    largely focused our analysis on these two charges. However, our
    vacatur of the orders on appeal necessarily includes the plea to
    witness intimidation, as it is inextricably entwined with the
    simultaneous plea to one of the abuse prevention order
    violations.
    9
    This conclusion is supported by prevailing professional
    norms. See Committee for Public Counsel Services Immigration
    Impact Unit, Immigration Consequences of Massachusetts Criminal
    Convictions 19 (July 2015) ("[Title] 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)
    14
    next to whether the defendant adequately demonstrated that
    neither of his defense counsel informed him that his pleas
    subjected him to mandatory deportation.   To support his claim,
    the defendant provided affidavits from both attorneys, who
    stated that they have no recollection regarding the defendant's
    cases.   Attorney Deyoung did state, both in his affidavit and
    when testifying at the evidentiary hearing on the defendant's
    motion, that his customary practice is to read with his clients
    the waiver of rights language on the tender of plea and waiver
    of rights form.   This, however, would not have satisfied
    counsel's affirmative duty to inform the defendant that
    "deportation would be practically inevitable."     Commonwealth v.
    
    DeJesus, supra
    .   See Commonwealth v. 
    Clarke, 460 Mass. at 33
    , 48
    n.20 ("[T]he receipt of such [alien] warnings is not an adequate
    substitute for defense counsel's professional obligation to
    advise her client of the likelihood of specific and dire
    immigration consequences that might arise from such a plea").
    Deyoung also stated that his standard practice was to advise
    clients that pleas may have immigration consequences and that
    they should consult an immigration attorney.     This was likewise
    provides for the deportation of noncitizens who are convicted of
    crimes of domestic violence . . . or certain violations of
    protective orders"), available at
    https://www.publiccounsel.net/iiu/wp-
    content/uploads/sites/15/2014/07/IIU-Guide-2015.pdf
    [http://perma.cc/Y3ML-7PWA] (last visited Sept. 29, 2015).
    15
    insufficient where deportation is presumptively mandatory.     See
    Commonwealth v. Balthazar, 
    86 Mass. App. Ct. 438
    , 440-443
    (2014).
    The judge handling the plea withdrawal motion on the 2004
    conviction was under the mistaken impression that the
    immigration consequences for the violation of the abuse
    prevention order were uncertain and there was no need to advise
    the defendant that the violation of the G. L. c. 209A abuse
    prevention order was a deportable offense pursuant to the
    applicable Federal statute.   As a result, his factual findings
    did not address the issue whether the defendant was properly
    informed that the violation of G. L. c. 209A, § 7, was a
    deportable offense, and thus, if removal proceedings were
    commenced, his deportation would be practically inevitable.
    Such fact-finding is necessary to resolve the performance prong
    of the Saferian analysis.
    As for the motion to withdraw the 2005 plea, the judge
    bypassed the performance prong of the Saferian analysis
    entirely.   Instead she moved directly into an inquiry whether
    the defendant had a substantial ground of defense, which the
    judge concluded he did not, finding the defendant's and the
    victim's affidavits incredible.   We also do not interpret her
    general finding that the defendant and victim were incredible to
    address the issue whether the defendant was informed by defense
    16
    counsel that the violation of the abuse prevention order was a
    deportable offense, and that deportation was thus practically
    certain.   The judge should make such findings expressly on
    remand.
    ii.    Prejudice prong.    "A showing that plea counsel's
    advice was constitutionally deficient does not alone entitle the
    defendant to relief, however; the defendant must also
    demonstrate prejudice."   Commonwealth v. Cano, 
    87 Mass. App. Ct. 238
    , 246 (2015).   In the plea context, this requires the
    defendant to establish that "there is a reasonable probability
    that, but for counsel's errors, he would not have pleaded guilty
    and would have insisted on going to trial."     Commonwealth v.
    
    Clarke, 460 Mass. at 47
    , quoting from Hill v. Lockhart, 
    474 U.S. 52
    , 59 (1985).   While the defendant has provided an affidavit to
    that effect, contrast Commonwealth v. Clarke, supra at 49, he
    must also "convince the court that a decision to reject the plea
    bargain would have been rational under the circumstances."        
    Id. at 47
    (citation omitted).     The defendant has three avenues for
    satisfying this requirement:     he must demonstrate that "(1) he
    had an 'available, substantial ground of defence,' Commonwealth
    v. Saferian, [366 Mass.] at 96, that would have been pursued if
    he had been correctly advised of the dire immigration
    consequences attendant to accepting the plea bargain; (2) there
    is a reasonable probability that a different plea bargain
    17
    (absent such consequences) could have been negotiated at the
    time; or (3) the presence of 'special circumstances' that
    support the conclusion that he placed, or would have placed,
    particular emphasis on immigration consequences in deciding
    whether to plead guilty.   Hill [v. Lockhart], supra at 60."
    Commonwealth v. 
    Clarke, 460 Mass. at 47
    -48 (footnote omitted).
    To bolster his argument, the defendant asserts that (1) the
    evidence marshalled by the Commonwealth to substantiate the
    charges against him was not particularly strong, and (2) the
    defendant's family and history in the United States qualify as
    special circumstances that would have weighed heavily in the
    defendant's decision to go to trial if he had been adequately
    informed of the immigration ramifications of his pleas.10
    Although the affidavits focused on the first rather than the
    second argument, and both judges were disadvantaged by poor
    development of the record on whether special circumstances were
    presented here, we conclude that a remand is nonetheless
    appropriate, especially given the emphasis by the Supreme
    Judicial Court on family circumstances in Commonwealth v.
    
    DeJesus, 468 Mass. at 184
    .
    10
    During the evidentiary hearing on the motion to withdraw
    the 2004 plea, the defendant's counsel argued that "[the
    defendant] has two [sic] children. He has grandchildren in the
    United States. And unless they have the money to fly to
    Jamaica, they are never going to see their father ever again.
    He can't come back. I mean -- and they're probably never going
    to see him."
    18
    The judge hearing the defendant's plea withdrawal motion in
    the 2004 case stated without further elaboration that it "would
    have been a stretch" to conclude that the defendant had met his
    burden to demonstrate prejudice.   We conclude that more specific
    and definitive findings are required here, especially given that
    the defendant's children and grandchildren live in the United
    States.   See Commonwealth v. 
    Sylvain, 466 Mass. at 439
    .
    Depending on the defendant's relationships with those children
    and grandchildren, which is not developed in the record, there
    may have been special circumstances present that would have
    justified going to trial.   See Commonwealth v. 
    DeJesus, 468 Mass. at 184
    ("defendant 'had a lot to lose if he were to be
    deported' because he had been in the country since he was eleven
    years old, his family was in Boston, and he had maintained
    steady employment in the Boston area").   See also Padilla v.
    
    Kentucky, 559 U.S. at 368
    (for deportable defendant, "right to
    remain in the United States may be more important to [him] than
    any potential jail sentence" [citation omitted]).   Contrast
    Commonwealth v. 
    Clarke, 460 Mass. at 48
    (defendant primarily
    concerned with pleading to secure dismissal of more serious
    charges, regardless of immigration consequences; there was
    substantial evidence stacked against the defendant, which would
    not have made a lesser plea possible).
    19
    Similar factual development is required for the plea
    withdrawal motion in the 2005 case.   Although the judge stated
    that the Commonwealth's evidence "presented a compelling case"
    in support of the defendant's convictions, and that neither the
    defendant's nor the victim's affidavit was credible, the judge
    did not address the nature and extent of the defendant's family
    ties in the United States and thus whether there were special
    circumstances that would have justified going to trial despite
    the strong case the judge found against him.    See Commonwealth
    v. 
    DeJesus, supra
    ; Padilla v. 
    Kentucky, supra
    .
    In evaluating whether a defendant has demonstrated
    prejudice in support of his claim of ineffective assistance,
    "[e]ach case will, of course, stand on its own facts."
    Commonwealth v. 
    Clarke, 460 Mass. at 48
    n.19.    But without
    findings of fact that address the defendant's specific
    contentions, particularly regarding special family
    circumstances, "it is not possible for us to say with any
    certainty whether the defendant's affidavit is merely self-
    serving or whether he was sufficiently prejudiced to justify
    vacating his guilty plea and ordering a new trial."
    Commonwealth v. 
    Sylvain, 466 Mass. at 439
    , citing Commonwealth
    v. 
    Saferian, 366 Mass. at 96
    ("[W]hatever the attempted
    formulation of a standard in general terms, what is required in
    the actual process of decision of claims of ineffective
    20
    assistance of counsel . . . is a discerning examination and
    appraisal of the specific circumstances of the given case").
    Therefore, we remand these matters to the District Court to
    provide further findings relating to both prongs of the Saferian
    standard for both motions.
    B.   Defendant's other claims.   The defendant makes two
    additional claims on appeal:   first, that his pleas were not
    knowingly and voluntarily made, and second, that new trials
    should be granted in the interest of justice.      However, the
    prospects for these claims largely rise and fall on the facts of
    the ineffective assistance claims.   As such, they cannot be
    addressed until there are further findings of fact from the
    motion judges.
    3.   Conclusion.   For the reasons articulated above, we
    vacate the orders denying the defendant's motions to vacate his
    guilty pleas and remand the defendant's cases to the District
    Court with instructions to make further findings relating to the
    issues of performance by counsel and any prejudice arising
    therefrom, and, if necessary, to hold additional evidentiary
    hearings on the defendant's motions for such purposes.      See
    Commonwealth v. 
    Sylvain, 466 Mass. at 439
    .
    So ordered.
    

Document Info

Docket Number: AC 13-P-894

Judges: Kafker, Rubin, Milkey

Filed Date: 10/2/2015

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 11/10/2024