People v. Apelles, 110289

• Decision Date: 23 July 2020
• Docket Number: 110289
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Hans APELLES, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

185 A.D.3d 1298
127 N.Y.S.3d 652

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,
v.
Hans APELLES, Appellant.

110289

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

Calendar Date: June 10, 2020
Decided and Entered: July 23, 2020

127 N.Y.S.3d 653

John B. Casey, Cohoes, for appellant.

David J. Clegg, District Attorney, Kingston (Joan Gudesblatt Lamb of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Garry, P.J., Clark, Mulvey, Aarons and Colangelo, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Mulvey, J.

185 A.D.3d 1298

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Ulster County (Williams, J.), rendered September 22, 2017, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of burglary in the second degree.

Defendant was charged in a five-count indictment with burglary in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (two counts), criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree and petit larceny. In satisfaction of that indictment, defendant agreed to plead guilty to burglary in the second degree with the understanding that he would be sentenced to a prison term of 10 years followed by five years of postrelease supervision. The plea agreement also required defendant to waive his right to appeal. Following defendant's guilty plea, County Court sentenced defendant to a prison term of seven years followed by five years of postrelease supervision. This appeal ensued.

Defendant initially contends that County Court either exceeded its authority

127 N.Y.S.3d 654

or abused its discretion in not approving the People's initial plea offer, which included a state prison term that could have been a minimum of 3½ years. We disagree. "A trial court is not required to accept every offer of a plea merely because the defendant wishes to enter a plea and may reject a plea offer in the exercise of sound judicial discretion" ( People v. Demagall, 63 A.D.3d 34, 36–37, 876 N.Y.S.2d 541 [2009] [internal quotation marks, brackets and citation omitted], lv denied 12 N.Y.3d 924, 884 N.Y.S.2d 705, 912 N.E.2d 1086 [2009] ). The fact that a "plea bargain ha[s] been found acceptable to both the prosecution and defense" does not compel its acceptance by the trial court ( People v. Smith, 272 A.D.2d 679, 682, 708 N.Y.S.2d 485 [2000], lv denied 95 N.Y.2d 938, 721 N.Y.S.2d 615, 744 N.E.2d 151 [2000] ). Given the nature of the underlying crime, and absent evidence of bias or other malfeasance on the part of County Court, we cannot say that the court abused its discretion in rejecting the People's plea offer.

185 A.D.3d 1299

Defendant's further assertion – that his waiver of the right to appeal is invalid because it was predicated upon the People's initial...