People v. Franco
| Decision Date | 22 December 1988 |
| Citation | 145 A.D.2d 837,535 N.Y.S.2d 823 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Luis FRANCO, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Isabelle Rawich, South Fallsburg, for appellant.
Stephen F. Lungen, Dist. Atty. (Bonnie Mitzner, of counsel), Monticello, for respondent.
Before MAHONEY, P.J., and CASEY, MIKOLL, YESAWICH and HARVEY, JJ.
Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Sullivan County (Hanofee, J.), rendered August 6, 1987, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of burglary in the third degree.
Pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, defendant pleaded guilty to a superior court information charging him with third degree burglary for his role in a liquor store theft; while attempting to gain access to the store his body became lodged in a hole in the wall of the liquor store. The plea was also in satisfaction of an unrelated charge pending against defendant. During the plea allocution, defendant, with the aid of an interpreter, admitted the salient facts of his crime. Approximately two months later, but before sentencing, defendant moved to withdraw his plea, asserting that the translation of the allocution led him to misunderstand the proceeding, that his attorney had coerced him into the plea bargain, and that he was intoxicated during commission of the offense but was unaware at the time of the plea that his intoxication could be asserted as a defense. County Court denied the motion without a hearing and subsequently sentenced defendant to the agreed-upon term of 1 1/3 to 4 years' imprisonment. Defendant appeals; we affirm.
An application to withdraw a guilty plea is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court, and, absent a showing of abuse, the court's determination should not be disturbed (see, CPL 220.60[3]; People v. Jackson, 130 A.D.2d 810, 811, 514 N.Y.S.2d 834). Defendant's responses to questioning during his allocution belie any difficulty understanding his interpreter or the underlying proceeding, as does his agreement during the plea negotiations to participate in the prosecution of his accomplice. His attorney conclusion that a trial would almost certainly end in a guilty verdict upon which defendant could be sentenced to substantially more than 1 1/3 to 4 years was not coercion but rather a sound assessment of defendant's predicament, and her recommendation that the plea bargain be accepted was, therefore, good advice....
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...People v Hunter, 246 A.D.2d 913, 914) and absent a showing of abuse, that court's determination will not be disturbed (see, People v Franco, 145 A.D.2d 837, 837). On this record, we conclude that County Court did not abuse its discretion in summarily denying defendant's motion (see, People ......
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...we find no abuse of discretion in County Court's denial of defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea (see, People v. Franco, 145 A.D.2d 837, 535 N.Y.S.2d 823; People v. Zuk, 130 A.D.2d 886, 887-888, 515 N.Y.S.2d 657, lv. denied 70 N.Y.2d 659, 518 N.Y.S.2d 1054, 512 N.E.2d 580). The rec......
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