Commonwealth v. Almonte

In 2005, a District Court judge accepted pleas of guilt by the defendant to two counts of assault and battery. In 2012, the judge allowed the defendant’s motion to vacate the convictions. The defendant contended that the pleas had resulted from the ineffective assistance of counsel because his attorney *736had failed to advise him of the exposure to deportation created by the pleas as required by Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010) {Padilla). The Commonwealth appealed upon the ground that the judge’s failure to conduct an evidentiary hearing and to provide supporting findings of fact and…