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Bad advice of loss of gun rights, plea bargains to DV

State v. Nickolas Agathis, 2012 NJ Super. Lexis II (Feb. 1, 2012). Defendant was arrested for DV, plead to it, without being informed that under New Jersey law he would be permanently barred from obtaining a firearm purchaser ID card, effectively barring him from firearm ownership. His counsel and the judge informed him that he could reapply for the card at the end of probation. The appellate court relied upon Nunez-Valdez, a recent US Supreme Court ruling voiding a plea bargain where the defendant was told that the plea would not affect his immigration status, when in fact it subjected him to immediate deportation.

The court had previously heard the case on direct appeal, and refused to grant relief. The intervening Supreme Court ruling (and, in a footnote, the decisions in Heller and McDonald) appear to have changed the situation. Note that both this and Nunez-Valdez hinge, not upon failure to inform the defendant of collateral consequences, but on the defendant being misinformed with regard to them.

Another noteworthy aspect: the appellate court treats this as ineffective assistance of counsel, but I think it's better analyzed in terms of whether the plea was "informed," regardless of the source of the misinformation. The fact that part of the advice came from the trial judge, rather than from counsel, should, I think, make the case stronger.

Hat tip to reader Alice Beard...

· prohibitted persons