SPOKANE — The Washington Court of Appeals, Division 3, denied the appeal of a woman who entered a guilty plea in Grant County Superior Court more than a decade ago and later claimed she received ineffective counsel from her attorney on the immigration consequences of her plea.

Maria Isabel Manzo, city of residence and age not given, entered the United States at age 12 in 1996. She was arrested in Grant County about seven years later in 2003 and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, first-degree possession of stolen property and alien in possession of a firearm.

Attorney Adolfo Banda negotiates a plea deal in which Manzo pleaded guilty to an amended charge of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to deliver. Prosecutors recommended the court impose a sentence of time served and ordered Manzo to pay restitution. During a Jan. 12, 2004 hearing, the court heard argument from Banda with regard to Manzo’s sentencing.

“My client has – actually I know my client has an immigration hold and she’ll be deported. She’ll be joined by her infants in Mexico once she gets to Mexico. The deportation in itself is punishment,” Banda told the court. “She won’t be able to come back to this country and she won’t be able to acquire legal status in this country as the law stands right now. Therefore, in the interests of justice, we ask the court to accept the state’s recommendation.”

About seven years later Manzo filed a motion with Grant County Superior Court to withdraw her guilty plea. Manzo claimed Banda did not tell her what would happen with regard to her immigration status and she believed she would still be allowed to argue her case to stay in the U.S. She said Banda should have warned her that she wouldn't be able to stay in the country and if that fact was explained to her she, “would have not just agreed to be deported.”

In addition, Manzo filed an affidavit from immigration attorney Drew White, who stated Banda failed to inform Manzo of the deportation consequence of her plea. In response, Banda filed a declaration with the court in which he stated it seemed “likely” his client would have been sent to immigration proceedings, but he said he wasn’t certain Manzo would be deported after pleading guilty.

The trial court transferred Manzo’s motion to withdraw the plea to the court of appeals and in doing so found Banda didn’t “affirmatively mis-advise” Manzo on the possibility of her deportation. The appeals court ruled against Manzo, stating Banda did in fact specifically warn his client she would be deported and could not return to the U.S.

“Maria Manzo protests that she did not understand she could not return to the United States. Nevertheless, her counsel specifically stated otherwise during the plea hearing,” reads the decision. “We recognize that Manzo probably does not understand English. Nevertheless, an interpreter repeated, in Spanish, her counsel’s clarion warning. She does not allege any fault in translation.”