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Rollins v. State1/12/2004
United States regarding controlled substances, a fact that would have been easily discovered through simple research. Moreover, it is standard practice for any State Bar, when determining whether an applicant is fit to practice law within a given jurisdiction, to require the applicant to provide information as to whether they have ever been charged with a crime or had a complaint filed against them, and if so, to explain the substance of the charge or complaint and its resolution. Trial counsel's failure to perform basic research, which would have quickly led him to this information, caused him to provide erroneous information to Rollins at the time he counseled her to enter a First Offender guilty plea. These acts fell well below an objective standard of the competence required for criminal attorneys in Georgia. Therefore, we conclude that the first prong of the Strickland analysis has been satisfied.
As explained above, both Rollins and trial counsel testified that they believed the State's case was weak and that if it was tried before a jury, there was a good chance of acquittal. From the beginning, Rollins claimed ignorance of how the cocaine residue came to be on a dollar bill found in her purse. She even went so far as emphasize this point to the trial judge who accepted her guilty plea. Both Rollins and trial counsel testified unequivocally that if she believed her plea would have an adverse impact on either her intention to become a lawyer or her immigration status, she would not have pled guilty. Conversely, the record shows no indication that, had she known of the adverse consequences of her guilty plea, Rollins still would have entered it. Based upon this evidence, we believe that it is reasonably probable that, but for trial counsel's errors, Rollins would have pled not guilty and would have asserted her right to a trial. Accordingly, we conclude the second Strickland prong has been satisfied.
3. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has stated that:
When the misadvice of the lawyer is so gross as to amount to a denial of the constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel, leading the defendant to enter an improvident plea, striking the sentence and permitting a withdrawal of the plea seems only a necessary consequence of the deprivation of the right to counsel.
We agree with this pronouncement and adopt its reasoning. Therefore, due to her lawyer's ineffective assistance in connection with her entry of a First Offender guilty plea to charges of violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act, Rollins's 1989 sentence is stricken and she will be allowed to withdraw her plea.
Judgment reversed. All the Justices concur.
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