05/18/2018 IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE December 12, 2017 Session NASIR HAKEEM v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Appeal from the Circuit Court for Montgomery County No. 41100128 William R. Goodman, III, Judge ___________________________________ No. M2016-02549-CCA-R3-PC ___________________________________ The Petitioner, Nasir Hakeem, appeals the Montgomery County Circuit Court’s denial of post-conviction relief, arguing that his attorneys were ineffective for failing to inform him of the deportation and other immigration consequences of a conviction at trial pursuant to Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010). The State contends that the petition is time-barred and that the post-conviction court erred in tolling the one-year statute of limitations based on the Petitioner’s ignorance of Padilla. Because the post- conviction court erred in tolling the limitations period, this court is deprived of jurisdiction to hear this appeal. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Appeal Dismissed CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which NORMA MCGEE OGLE and TIMOTHY L. EASTER, JJ., joined. Gregory D. Smith, Clarksville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Nasir Hakeem. Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Caitlin Smith, Assistant Attorney General; John W. Carney, District Attorney General; and Robert J. Nash, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. OPINION Following a bench trial, the Petitioner, a foreign national from Pakistan, was convicted of two counts of sexual battery, a Class E felony. State v. Nasir Hakeem, No. M2012-02150-CCA-R3-CD, 2013 WL 6706122, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. Dec. 18, 2013), perm. app. denied, (Tenn. May 14, 2014). On August 2, 2012, the trial court imposed concurrent, suspended sentences of eighteen months for each conviction and required the Petitioner to register as a sex offender. Id. The Petitioner’s convictions were affirmed on direct appeal. Id. On April 21, 2016, the Petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging that initial counsel and successor counsel were ineffective for failing to inform him of the deportation and other immigration consequences of a conviction for sexual battery at trial. The Petitioner claimed he did not file this petition within one year of the date his conviction became final because he was not aware that his convictions would negatively impact his immigration status until November 15, 2015, when his immigration attorney informed him that his convictions made him ineligible to renew his investor visa. Affidavits from initial counsel, successor counsel, the Petitioner’s immigration attorney, and the Petitioner were attached to the post-conviction petition. The Petitioner’s immigration attorney stated in her affidavit that when she met with the Petitioner in mid- November 2015, she informed him that his convictions for sexual battery would “probably negate any chance [he] ha[d] of applying for cancellation of removal before the immigration court, which mean[t] he would not be eligible to obtain Legal Permanent Residence or a ‘green card’” and that the Petitioner would be “precluded from filing for other relief such as Asylum or Withholding of Removal, among others[.]” This “appeared to be ...
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