State v. Padilla-Canales

Summary

The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the sentence and declined to exercise plain-error review over Padilla-Canales’s unpreserved claim that his guilty plea was involuntary because the District Court did not advise him about immigration consequences at the plea hearing. Although the court violated the statutory advisement requirement, the record showed that Padilla-Canales was aware of the likely deportation consequences through discussions before and during sentencing, and nothing otherwise cast doubt on the voluntariness of his plea. No separate opinions were filed.