People v. Anderson
| Decision Date | 02 March 2000 |
| Citation | 270 A.D.2d 509,704 N.Y.S.2d 324 |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent,<BR>v.<BR>JARMEL ANDERSON, Also Known as JARMEL ANDERSON-FIALKOW, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Defendant was charged with multiple crimes, including three counts of robbery in the first degree, following an incident in which he and a codefendant allegedly took certain jewelry forcibly from a young male on January 12, 1997. Defendant rejected the prosecution's initial offer of an eight-year definite sentence in return for his plea of guilty to one of the robbery counts. Following jury selection, further negotiations resulted in defendant's acceptance of the prosecution's second plea offer. As a result, defendant pleaded guilty to the crime of robbery in the first degree in exchange for the promise of a 10-year definite sentence. At sentencing, defendant moved to withdraw his plea claiming, inter alia, that he was coerced into entering it. County Court denied the motion without a hearing resulting in this appeal.
Initially, we find no merit to defendant's claim that County Court erred in denying his withdrawal motion without a hearing. The question of whether to grant such a motion rests in the discretion of the trial court and, generally, a plea may not be withdrawn absent some evidence or claim of innocence, fraud or mistake (see, People v Davis, 250 AD2d 939, 940). Hearings are not mandated in every case and a protestation of innocence unsupported by any evidence is insufficient to warrant withdrawal of the plea (see, id.). Here, defendant's assertion that he had a meritorious defense was unsupported by any evidence and contrary to his admission during the plea allocution. Therefore, a hearing was not required.
As to defendant's claim of coercion, the mere fact that he was given a short period of time within which to accept or reject the plea offer does not amount to coercion (see, People v Lesame, 239 AD2d 801, lv denied 90 NY2d 941). Likewise, the prosecutor's reference to defendant's attempt to bribe two witnesses as a reason for the 10-year prison term instead of the eight-year term does not, in our view, establish that he was coerced into entering the plea. The prosecutor is free to set forth the terms under which a plea offer may be accepted (see, People v Eaddy, 200 AD2d 896, 897, lv denied 83 NY2d 852) "and there is nothing coercive in leaving with the defendant the option to accept or reject a bargain if one is offered" (People v Seaberg, 74 NY2d 1, 8-9). Furthermore, the transcript of the plea proceeding reveals that defendant's plea was knowing,...
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