The Supreme Court announced that it has granted leave to appeal in State v. Hernandez-Peralta. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “In this post-conviction relief matter, where defendant had told plea counsel that he was a United States citizen born in New York, but the pre-sentence report revealed that he was born in Mexico, was sentencing counsel’s performance deficient under the first prong of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), for failing to further investigate whether defendant was a United States citizen?” The Law Division found that counsel’s performance was unconstitutionally defective, granted defendant’s application for post-conviction relief, and vacated his convictions. In an unpublished per curiam opinion, a two-judge panel of the Appellate Division reversed that ruling and remanded for further consideration of one of the factors of Strickland. Now, the Supreme Court will consider the matter instead.
An Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Appeal for the Supreme Court
