NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-1334-18T2 STATE OF NEW JERSEY, APPROVED FOR PUBLICATION Plaintiff-Respondent, July 24, 2020 v. APPELLATE DIVISION AMIR A. ABUROUMI, Defendant-Appellant. _______________________ Argued telephonically June 30, 2020 – Decided July 24, 2020 Before Judges Messano, Vernoia and Rose. On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Passaic County, Accusation No. 14-12-1059. Melvin R. Solomon argued the cause for appellant (Parsekian & Solomon, PC, attorneys; Melvin R. Solomon, on the briefs). Marc A. Festa, Senior Assistant Prosecutor, argued the cause for respondent (Camelia M. Valdes, Passaic County Prosecutor, attorney; Mark A. Festa, of counsel and on the brief). The opinion of the court was delivered by ROSE, J.A.D. Defendant Amir A. Aburoumi, a non-citizen of the United States, appeals from an October 11, 2018 order denying his motion to vacate his guilty plea based on claims of ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC). The court also denied the motion as a first petition for post-conviction relief (PCR) without an evidentiary hearing. At issue on this appeal is whether the performances of defendant's plea attorneys were deficient by: (1) negotiating an agreement that required defendant to plead guilty as a condition of admission to pretrial intervention (PTI), when the Guideline to the Rule in effect at the time of defendant's plea prohibited such a requirement by the State; and (2) failing to advise defendant that his acknowledgment of guilt subjected him to removal proceedings – even though the charges would be dismissed upon defendant's successful completion of PTI. Because the record does not reveal the substance of the plea negotiations between the State and defense counsel, nor the advice counsel rendered to defendant about the immigration consequences of his guilty plea, we vacate the court's order and remand for an evidentiary hearing. I. Defendant was born in Jerusalem in 1996; eight years later, he entered the United States with his parents and two sisters. In January 2015, when he was just shy of nineteen years old and about to start college, defendant pled guilty to A-1334-18T2 2 a one-count accusation, charging third-degree aggravated assault, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1(b)(2) (purposely or knowingly causing bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon). In exchange for his guilty plea, the State recommended defendant's admission to PTI and dismissed the underlying complaint-warrant, which charged weapons offenses. During the plea hearing, the prosecutor informed the court: "The State's offer here [wa]s probation[,]" but the State had accepted defendant's counteroffer of "PTI with a guilty plea" to third-degree aggravated assault. That agreement was negotiated between the prosecutor and defendant's former attorney, but during the plea hearing, defendant and his second plea counsel confirmed their understanding of the resulting agreement. Accordingly, defendant admitted that on November 3, 2014, he and three friends were riding in a car in Paterson, when one of the occupants fired a paintball gun and struck someone outside the vehicle. Defendant did not fire the weapon, but he ...
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