Cite as: 533 U. S. 289 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
yers et al. as Amici Curiae 13)). Given the frequency with which § 212(c) relief was granted in the years leading up to AEDPA and IIRIRA,49 preserving the possibility of such relief would have been one of the principal benefits sought by defendants deciding whether to accept a plea offer or instead to proceed to trial.50
The case of Charles Jideonwo, a petitioner in a parallel litigation in the Seventh Circuit, is instructive. Charged in 1994 with violating federal narcotics law, Jideonwo entered into extensive plea negotiations with the Government, the sole purpose of which was to ensure that " 'he got less than five years to avoid what would have been a statutory bar on 212(c) relief.' " Jideonwo v. INS, 224 F. 3d 692, 699 (CA7 2000) (quoting the Immigration Judge's findings of fact). The potential for unfairness in the retroactive application of IIRIRA § 304(b) to people like Jideonwo and St. Cyr is significant and manifest. Relying upon settled practice, the advice of counsel, and perhaps even assurances in open court that the entry of the plea would not foreclose § 212(c) relief, a great number of defendants in Jideonwo's and St. Cyr's position agreed to plead guilty.51 Now that prosecutors have received the benefit of these plea agreements, agreements that were likely facilitated by the aliens' belief in their continued eligibility for § 212(c) relief, it would surely be contrary to "familiar considerations of fair notice, reasonable reliance, and settled expectations," Landgraf, 511 U. S.,
49 See n. 5, supra.
50 Even if the defendant were not initially aware of § 212(c), competent defense counsel, following the advice of numerous practice guides, would have advised him concerning the provision's importance. See Brief for National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers et al. as Amici Curiae 6-8.
51 Ninety percent of criminal convictions today are obtained by guilty plea. See U. S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Section 5: Judicial Processing of Defendants, in United States Sentencing Commission, 1999 Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (2000) (Tables 5.30, 5.51).
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