Petitions To Vacate Guilty Pleas in Florida
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172
Petitions To Vacate Guilty Pleas are governed by Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172; In situations where clients have decided to plead guilty to a criminal charge rather than exercise their right to be tried before a jury a judge must make sure under this rule of criminal procedure that the client's plea is voluntary; Many times prior to the time a judge at a change of plea hearing asks the client if his plea has been voluntary clients are not accorded the proper advice by lawyers and they plead guilty to a felony and in some cases a misdemeanor without being told that there can be many adverse consequences after a plea of guilty to such crimes; these consequences can include the right to own a weapon, the right to vote, the right to have a driver's license, the possibility of civil commitment after a jail sentence in certain sex offenses or the right among others to legally remain in this country after a plea to a felony involving moral turpitude or a misdemeanor involving domestic violence; Many lawyers are unaware that guilty pleas which result in adjudication being withheld under state law (non convictions) are still considered a conviction for federal purposes even though they may believe that no conviction would be imposed in such cases.; these are unfortunately mistakes which must be rectified; a skilled lawyer who is hired by a client to correct the mistake of a previous lawyer must be aware of the time or limitation period which confronts the client who has plead guilty before no further relief is available.
My office has handled many of these so called ineffective assistance of counsel claims concerning petitions to vacate guilty pleas; the law in this area is changing quickly; I have argued such a case before the Florida Supreme Court (State v, Green, which concerned required deportation warnings at change of plea hearings). Recently the United States Supreme Court imposed an affirmative duty upon lawyers to advise their clients of the deportation consequences of the client's guilty plea in the case of Padilla v. Kentucky; A skilled defense lawyer must be aware of these so called collateral consequences of guilty pleas to avoid any future problems for their clients or to be able to correct previous mistakes by filing Petitions to Vacate Guilty Pleas for their clients who have been effected by previous failures to warn them about these collateral consequences by previous counsel.
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contact the criminal defense law firm of Michael B. Cohen, P.A. online or call 954-928-0059.
