NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3. SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-2008-20 STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. BRAYAN RENDON-MONCADA, Defendant-Appellant. Submitted May 9, 2022 – Decided August 19, 2022 Before Judges Accurso and Rose. On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Bergen County, Indictment No. 18-10-1120. Nicholas R. Doria, attorney for appellant. Mark Musella, Bergen County Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (William P. Miller, Assistant Prosecutor, of counsel; Catherine A. Foddai, Legal Assistant, on the brief). PER CURIAM Defendant Brayan Rendon-Moncada, a non-citizen of the United States, appeals from a February 12, 2021 order, denying his petition for post-conviction relief (PCR) following an evidentiary hearing on his claim that plea counsel was ineffective for failing to adequately advise of the immigration consequences of his guilty plea. Defendant also appeals from the PCR judge's September 29, 2020 order that denied: PCR without a hearing on his claim that plea counsel was ineffective for failing to pursue a self-defense claim; and defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea. 1 We affirm. I. The facts and procedural history are straightforward and set forth at length in the PCR judge's decisions that accompanied the orders under review. To summarize, in June 2018, defendant and his estranged wife, J.B.,2 shared custody of their three-year-old son. On June 30, 2018, before arriving at defendant's home to pick up the child, J.B. sent defendant text messages expressing her displeasure with his social media post that depicted him with 1 Although defendant's notice of appeal only references the February 12, 2021 order, the judge's opinion accompanying the order incorporated her September 29, 2020 decision. We therefore consider all issues raised on appeal. 2 We use initials to protect the privacy of the victim. R. 1:38-3(c)(12). A-2008-20 2 another woman. As one notable example, J.B. stated: "Ill b [sic] there in a little BTW [sic] I got a baseball bat." Defendant's landlord, Christopher France, was present at defendant's apartment when J.B. arrived. According to France, J.B. was "banging on the door extremely aggressively"; told defendant "she was going to fuck him up"; and threatened to punch him in the face. France "did not think anything of it" because he "heard [defendant] laugh." However, at some later point, France heard "a lot of hitting noises." When France looked down the stairs, he saw J.B. "on top of defendant, which looked like she had attacked him." In his handwritten, July 4, 2019 affidavit to police, defendant claimed J.B. entered his home and "hit [him] in the stomach with her elbow." Defendant "didn't care" and continued watching Netflix with the couple's son. But J.B. punched defendant "[three] times in the face." Defendant told J.B. to leave, but J.B. bit …
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