State v. Ellis-Strong, Minn.Ct.App., 6/19/2017. Mr. Ellis-Strong pled guilty to criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. A conviction for this offense requires that Mr. Ellis-Strong register under the predatory offender statute for life. At the time of the plea, however, his counsel mis-informed him that the registration period was ten years. Before sentencing Mr. Ellis-Strong moved to withdraw his plea because, he said, his counsel's misinformation was ineffective assistance of counsel.
Just a month or so ago the court of appeals said that an attorney's misadvice to a client about a collateral consequence does not, on its own, render a guilty plea unintelligent and manifestly unjust. State v. Brown. There was no ineffective assistance of counsel claim made in Brown, however. So, for Ms. Ellis-Strong:
In sum, even though predatory-offender registration is a collateral consequence of a guilty plea, affirmative misadvice about such consequences may amount to ineffective assistance of counsel if the Strickland factors are met.
The court concludes that Mr. Ellis-Strong meets the "objective standard of reasonableness" requirement of Strickland:
Like the statute at issue in Padilla, the predatory-offender registration statute here is succinct, clear, and explicit. Ellis-Strong pleaded guilty to first-degree CSC under Minn. Stat. § 609.342, subd. 1(a). The statute governing registration of predatory offenders, Minn. Stat. § 243.166, subd. 6(d)(3) (2014), clearly states under the heading “Registration period,” that a person shall comply with the registration requirements for life if the person is required to register based on a conviction under Minn. Stat. § 609.342, subd. 1(a). As Ellis-Strong notes, despite the clarity in the statute, his attorney misadvised him that he was only required to register for ten years.
Because the trial court did not address Strickland's prejudice requirement the court of appeals sends the case back to the trial court to address that question.
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