IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 19-0988 Filed June 3, 2020 MONUE FORKPAYEA GEIMAH, Applicant-Appellant, vs. STATE OF IOWA, Respondent-Appellee. ________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Poweshiek County, Crystal S. Cronk, Judge. Monue Forkpayea Geimah appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief. AFFIRMED. C. Aron Vaughn of Kaplan & Frese, LLP, Marshalltown, for appellant. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Genevieve Reinkoester, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee State. Considered by Bower, C.J., and Doyle and Schumacher, JJ. 2 BOWER, Chief Judge. Monue Forkpayea Geimah appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief (PCR). He maintains plea counsel was ineffective in failing to advise him of the immigration consequences of pleading guilty to theft in 2017. On our de novo review, we conclude plea counsel did not inform Geimah “of all the adverse immigration consequences that competent counsel would uncover,”1 but Geimah failed to prove he would not have pleaded guilty had he been adequately advised. We therefore affirm. I. Background Facts and Proceedings. On February 29, 2016, Geimah was charged with one count of theft in the third degree for “depositing checks with insufficient funds and receiving $841.00.” On December 8, 2016, Geimah filed a written guilty plea to one count of theft in the fourth degree. This written guilty plea contained the following warning: Immigration Consequences. If you are not a citizen of the United States, a conviction may have immigration consequences. Immigration law is a specialized field of law. [Plea counsel] is not an immigration lawyer and you should seek the consultation of an immigration specialist if you want advice regarding the immigration consequences of your plea. Geimah waived his right to be present at sentencing. On January 5, 2017, the district court entered judgment and Geimah was sentenced to one year in the Poweshiek County Jail, which was suspended. He was placed on probation for one year and ordered to pay a fine, surcharges, and costs. 1Morales Diaz v. State, 896 N.W.2d 723, 732 (Iowa 2017) (applying standard of practice enunciated in Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010)). 3 On January 28, 2019, Geimah filed a PCR application, asserting his plea counsel provided ineffective assistance by not adequately explaining the immigration consequences of his guilty plea. Trial was held on May 15. Geimah, his wife, Melissa, and plea counsel testified at the trial. Geimah testified that he was born in, and is a citizen of, Liberia, West Africa. He legally immigrated to the United States in 2010. Geimah testified his father and his four half-siblings live in the United States, he is married to a United States citizen with whom he has two children. He stated he knows no one in Liberia. Geimah also testified that in March 2018 he turned himself in to authorities in Minnesota for an outstanding warrant for a driving while intoxicated charge. He testified he had completed the requirements of that case, and the charge was dropped. However, as he was being released, he ...
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