Smith v. State

In 1994, Wade Smith, appellant, a native of Jamaica and “lawful permanent resident” of the United States, pleaded guilty, in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, to possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Although Smith never filed an application for leave to appeal his conviction, he did file, more than seventeen years after his plea, in 2011, a petition for writ of error coram nobis. In that petition, he alleges that his 1994 guilty plea was tendered involuntarily because he was not aware of potential immigration consequences of that plea when he entered it.

The circuit court issued…