Personal Restraint Petition Of Juan Luis Garcia ( 2016 )

Filed
Washington State
Court of Appeals
Division Two
April 26, 2016
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
DIVISION II
In the Matter of No. 44367-8-II
the Personal Restraint Petition of
JUAN L. GARCIA,
Petitioner. UNPUBLISHED OPINION
JOHANSON, P.J. — Juan Garcia seeks relief from personal restraint imposed following his
1993 pleas of guilty to two counts of unlawful delivery of cocaine. 1 He argues that he received
ineffective assistance of counsel because his counsel misadvised him regarding the immigration
consequences of his guilty plea. A year after pleading guilty, Garcia learned that the convictions
rendered him deportable. Thus, he contends that he received ineffective counsel under Padilla v.
Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356, 130 S. Ct. 1473, 176 L. Ed. 2d 284 (2010). And he contends that his petition
is exempt from the one-year time bar under RCW 10.73.100(6). On November 6, 2013, we issued
an order dismissing Garcia’s petition as time barred, concluding that the exemption under RCW
10.73.100(6) did not apply to a personal restraint petition claiming ineffective assistance under
Padilla because “the Chaidez [v. United States, __ U.S. __, 133 S. Ct. 1103, 1107-08, 185 L. Ed. 2d
1Garcia filed a motion to withdraw his guilty pleas in the trial court. That court transferred his
motion to us to be considered as a personal restraint petition. CrR 7.8(c)(2).
No. 44367-8-II
149 (2013),] Court recently held that Padilla does not apply retroactively to cases that were final
before the Padilla decision.” State v. Martinez-Leon, 174 Wn. App. 753, 755, 300 P.3d 481 (2013).
On February 10, 2016, the Washington State Supreme Court granted Garcia’s discretionary review
motion and remanded his petition for consideration under In re Personal Restraint of Yung-Cheng
Tsai, 183 Wn.2d 91, 351 P.3d 138 (2015).
On March 23, 2016, Garcia and the State filed a joint motion for an order granting Garcia’s
petition on grounds that under Yung-Cheng Tsai, his petition is not time barred and, under Padilla, he
is entitled to relief. Accordingly, Garcia’s personal restraint petition is granted. His convictions
are vacated and this matter is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.
A majority of the panel having determined that this opinion will not be printed in the
Washington Appellate Reports, but will be filed for public record in accordance with RCW 2.06.040,
it is so ordered.
JOHANSON, C.J.
We concur:
LEE, J.
MELNICK, J.
2