ALBANY – An upstate judge has been ordered to hold a hearing to determine whether a defendant facing possible deportation received adequate legal representation before pleading guilty to a drug charge.
The appeals lawyer for defendant Franklin Fitzgerald Williams argued successfully before the Appellate Division, Third Department, that a judge should decide whether Mr. Williams was properly appraised of how his guilty plea to a third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance charge under Penal Law 220.39(1) could affect his citizenship status, in addition to any criminal penalty he received for his conviction.
