FILED AUGUST 28, 2018 In the Office of the Clerk of Court WA State Court of Appeals, Division III IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE STATE OF WASHINGTON, ) No. 35147-5-III ) (consolidated with Respondent, ) No. 35604-3-III) ) v. ) ) VICTOR A. VALDOVINOS VAZQUEZ, ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION ) Appellant. ) In the Matter of the Petition for Relief ) from Personal Restraint of: ) ) VICTOR VALDOVINOS VAZQUEZ. ) LAWRENCE-BERREY, C.J. — Victor Valdovinos Vazquez (Valdovinos) appeals the trial court’s order denying his motion to vacate his guilty plea and conviction. He argues he received ineffective assistance of counsel when his trial counsel did not correctly advise him of the immigration consequences of his guilty plea. Here, trial counsel advised him not to plead guilty until Valdovinos consulted with his retained immigration No. 35147-5-III; No. 35604-3-III State v. Valdovinos Vazquez; PRP of Valdovinos Vazquez attorney. This was good advice. Valdovinos ignored it and pleaded guilty. Because his trial counsel’s advice was not deficient, we reject Valdovinos’s claim and affirm the trial court. FACTS Valdovinos did not assign error to any of the trial court’s findings of fact. We therefore take our facts from those findings. On August 1, 2016, the State filed a criminal information against Valdovinos, alleging one count of residential burglary. Attorney Nicholas Yedinak appeared on behalf of Valdovinos. Valdovinos is not a United States citizen. He came to the United States when he was in grade school, around 2005. Shortly after he was charged, Valdovinos’s family retained attorney Brent De Young to provide their son with advice about the immigration consequences of his criminal case and also to consult with Yedinak. De Young telephoned Yedinak and said he was aware of an unfiled drug possession case against Valdovinos. In the telephone call, De Young mentioned to Yedinak his concerns about the immigration consequences of the drug possession case. 2 No. 35147-5-III; No. 35604-3-III State v. Valdovinos Vazquez; PRP of Valdovinos Vazquez On or shortly before September 1, 2016, the State made a plea offer to Valdovinos through Yedinak. Yedinak e-mailed an outline of the plea offer to De Young. De Young responded and offered specific immigration advice to Yedinak concerning the plea offer. The parties set a change of plea hearing for September 6, 2016. That same day, the State approached Yedinak and offered to resolve Valdovinos’s unfiled drug possession case. The State offered to include the unfiled drug offense under the residential burglary case and to request no additional jail time for that offense. Yedinak did not call or discuss the new plea offer with De Young because the offer came up at the last moment in court. The new plea offer required Valdovinos to plead guilty to first degree theft, criminal trespass in the first degree, and possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine. Yedinak discussed the new plea offer with Valdovinos. He advised Valdovinos to consult with De Young about the immigration consequences of the new charge ...
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