A defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel when his lawyer told him that he “could be” deported—not that he definitely would be deported—as a result of his guilty plea for attempted robbery, a divided state appeals court has ruled.

Moussa Doumbia, a “noncitizen” defendant and Ivory Coast native, will have the opportunity to vacate his plea upon showing that there's a “reasonable probability” he would not have pleaded guilty had he known of the deportation consequences, the Appellate Division, First Department, ruled in a 3-1 decision.

“Lawyers have an affirmative duty to adequately inform their clients about the serious effects of criminal convictions … with as much specificity, as possible,” the majority wrote in an unsigned opinion. The majority added, “It is … ineffective assistance to advise a noncitizen of a mere risk or possibility that he 'could be deported.'”