NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3. SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-3080-18 STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. ANEURY TORRES, Defendant-Appellant. _______________________ Submitted October 7, 2020 – Decided July 21, 2021 Before Judges Ostrer and Accurso. On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Passaic County, Indictment No. 14-03-0217. Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney for appellant (Monique Moyse, Designated Counsel, on the brief). Camelia M. Valdes, Passaic County Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (Mark Niedziela, Assistant Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief). PER CURIAM Defendant Aneury Torres, who was charged with first-degree carjacking and related crimes, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second-degree robbery. He was treated as a third-degree offender for sentencing purposes and received a three-year sentence subject to the No Early Release Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2. Before he entered his guilty plea, both his defense counsel and the trial judge warned him that his plea would almost certainly lead to his removal from the United States. After Torres was released from State custody and taken into federal immigration custody, Torres filed a petition for post-conviction relief (PCR). He alleged that his defense counsel improperly elicited a factual basis for his plea despite his insistence that he was innocent, and also failed to discuss deportation as a consequence of his guilty plea. The court denied Torres's PCR without an evidentiary hearing. It also preemptively denied Torres the opportunity to withdraw his plea under State v. Slater, 198 N.J. 145 (2009) (establishing a four-prong test for assessing motions to withdraw a guilty plea), although Torres did not ask to do so. In his appeal, Torres renews those PCR arguments. He also contends that the court erred in applying Slater to a withdrawal motion he had not filed. We 2 A-3080-18 affirm the trial court's denial of PCR, but we vacate its denial of a plea- withdrawal motion. I. According to a report of Torres's interview with police, Georgie, one of Torres's acquaintances, told Torres and two other men to join him in going to Paterson to "rob a vehicle." Torres went along, and the four took a public bus to Paterson. After they arrived, Georgie chose the target car; Torres held back, but the others ventured toward it. Georgie and one other spoke to the driver in English, but Torres, who did not speak English, did not understand what was said. While Georgie and his companion spoke to the driver, Georgie pulled a gun on her. She and her passenger abandoned the car. Then the four men rode off in the stolen car with Georgie at the wheel. However, as they headed back toward the Bronx, police followed. Torres told Georgie to stop, but Georgie refused. The …
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