Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jan 2004
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Contact:  http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
Author: Bill Rankin

COURT: LAWYER'S BAD CALL VOIDS DRUG CONVICTION

A mistake Michele Yearwood Rollins made on her 21st birthday killed
her chances of becoming a prosecutor and almost kicked her out of the
country, for good.

But on Monday, 14 years later, the Georgia Supreme Court gave the
Barbados native a second chance. The justices erased --- at least for
now --- a felony drug conviction stemming from her arrest in Gwinnett
County on April 20, 1989.

Out on the town celebrating her birthday, Rollins was pulled over by
police for driving under the influence. She also was charged with drug
possession after the officer found traces of cocaine on a crumpled-up
dollar bill inside her purse. In court, Rollins was not going to fight
the DUI charge. But she contested the drug charge and asked her lawyer
about the ramifications of pleading guilty to it. The attorney advised
her there would be no repercussions if she pleaded guilty under the
First Offender Act, which erases a conviction once a defendant
successfully completes probation. The conviction then would remain
under court seal, the lawyer said.

Rollins entered her pleas to DUI and felony drug possession and
completed three years on probation with no problems.

Her lawyer's advice turned out to be dead wrong.

More than a decade later, Rollins graduated from the University of
Georgia Law School in 2001 and was offered a job as a prosecutor in
Florida. But in the job application process, the State Bar of Florida
learned about her drug conviction and decided to withhold her
admission to the Bar.

And when Rollins, who had come to the United States on a student visa,
applied for citizenship, immigration authorities also found out about
the conviction and moved to have her deported.

Rollins then challenged her drug conviction, saying it should be
thrown out because her lawyer gave her bad advice.

In a unanimous decision issued Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court
agreed. In the past, Justice Leah Ward Sears noted, the court has
refused to void convictions for a lawyer's failure to inform a client
about the consequences of a guilty plea. But Rollins' case is
different, Sears wrote.

"This particular appeal does not involve counsel's failure to inform,
but rather concerns counsel's affirmative act of giving misinformation
in response to a client's specific inquiries," the ruling said.

If the lawyer had done basic research, he would have known better, the
court said. Such behavior "fell well below an objective standard of
the competence required for criminal attorneys in Georgia," the court
determined.

Atlanta immigration lawyer Dale Schwartz called the ruling "a landmark
decision" and one that brings Georgia's courts more in line with those
in other states.

"We often see clients who have been truly messed up by criminal pleas
and not realizing what they were getting themselves into," he said.
"This ruling will go a long way to helping those people who have been
really messed up by attorneys who didn't understand the immigration
consequences."

Rollins, who now lives in Florida and works in the real estate
business, declined to comment on Monday's ruling. Her 1989 cocaine
possession case now returns to Gwinnett Superior Court.

Her appellate lawyer, Abbi Taylor Guest of Decatur, expressed delight
with the ruling, noting that Rollins is now married to a U.S. citizen.

"I'm excited for her and for the other folks in her situation," Guest
said. "Someone should not have to suffer the consequences of their
lawyer giving them incorrect information."

Rollins' immigration lawyer, Charles Cook, said if his client cannot
get her drug charge dismissed there is little doubt she will be deported.

"There'd be no relief for her," said Cook, who also was Rollins'
immigration law professor at UGA. "She'd also be completely ineligible
to return to the United States."

Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter said he did not disagree with
the Georgia Supreme Court's reasoning in arriving at its decision.

As for what happens to Rollins' case now, Porter said he would review
the facts of the 1989 case to "see how we go from here."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin