Bloomberg Law
March 7, 2018, 9:52 PM UTC

Plea Advice Required Deportation Warning, S.C. High Court Says

A criminal defense lawyer provided ineffective representation when he failed to advise his client of the risk of deportation in pleading guilty to a drug offense, the South Carolina Supreme Court said.

The state’s highest court found in a Feb. 28 decision that that Gregg Taylor, a Jamaican with a wife and children who are U.S. citizens, demonstrated “reasonable probability” that, absent the attorney’s errors, he would have insisted on going to trial. Taylor was deported to Jamaica after pleading guilty to a marijuana possession charge.

In making its ruling, the South Carolina Supreme Court found that a post-conviction relief ...

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