Pennsylvania v. Descardes (majority)
Annotate this CaseIn a discretionary appeal by the Commonwealth, the Supreme Court considered whether Appellee Claude Descardes was entitled to seek review of his ineffectiveness of counsel claim, based on counsel’s failure to advise him of the collateral consequences of his guilty plea, via a petition for writ of coram nobis. Appellee, a Haitian national who held resident alien status in the United States, pled guilty to insurance fraud, a felony, and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. Appellee was not advised prior to entering his plea that deportation was a collateral consequence of his plea pursuant to the Immigration and Naturalization Act. Appellee was sentenced to one year of probation and a fine, and did not appeal his judgment of sentence. He completed serving his probationary sentence in November 2007. In 2009, Appellee left the United States on personal business and, when he attempted to reenter the country, United States immigration officials denied him reentry due to his felony convictions. After review, the Supreme Court concluded that Appellee was not entitled to seek review of his ineffectiveness of counsel claim, and accordingly vacated the Superior Court's judgment holding to the contrary. Appellee's underlying petition for postconvicton relief was dismissed.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.