People v. Haffiz

• Decision Date: 07 June 2012
• Citation: 951 N.Y.S.2d 690,19 N.Y.3d 883,2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 04376,976 N.E.2d 216
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Feoid HAFFIZ, Appellant.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

19 N.Y.3d 883

976 N.E.2d 216

951 N.Y.S.2d 690

2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 04376

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.Feoid HAFFIZ, Appellant.

Court of Appeals of New York.

June 7, 2012.

Quadrino & Schwartz, P.C., Garden City(Bruce A. Barket of counsel), for appellant.

Thomas J. Spota, District Attorney, Riverhead (Michael Blakey of counsel), for respondent.

OPINION OF THE COURTMEMORANDUM.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.

On March 6, 2008, defendant pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree, criminal sale of a firearm in the third degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.Two months later, defendant, with new defense counsel, moved to withdraw the plea arguing, among other things, that the defense of entrapment had been established and he was innocent as a matter of law Relying on our decision in People v. McDonald,1 N.Y.3d 109, 769 N.Y.S.2d 781, 802 N.E.2d 131(2003), defendant also claimed that his defense counsel at the time of the plea was ineffective by misinforming him that “sometimes people are not deported” after a criminal conviction, when, in fact, defendant's felony conviction resulted in mandatory deportation.County Court denied defendant's motion, finding that defendant's allegations of innocence were contradicted by the plea allocution.The court did not address defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim.

On appeal to the Appellate Division, defendant further argued that his plea should be vacated pursuant to the then-recent decision Padilla v. Kentucky,559 U.S. ––––, 130 S.Ct. 1473, 176 L.Ed.2d 284(2010).In Padilla, the United States Supreme Court recognized that “deportation is a particularly severe penalty” with a “close connection to the criminal process,” and held that constitutionally effective assistance of counsel requires defense counsel to inform his or her client whether a plea carries the risk of deportation (559 U.S. at ––––, 130 S.Ct. at 1481–1482, 1484, 1486[internal quotation marks omitted] ).The Appellate Division affirmed the denial of defendant's motion (77 A.D.3d 767, 909 N.Y.S.2d 490[2d Dept.2010] ).

We agree with the Appellate Division that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's motion to withdraw his plea.“The established rule is that a guilty plea will be upheld as valid if it was entered voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently”(People v. Fiumefreddo,82 N.Y.2d 536, 543, 605 N.Y.S.2d 671, 626 N.E.2d 646[1993] ).“A defendant is not entitled to withdraw his guilty plea based on a subsequent unsupported claim of innocence, where the guilty plea was voluntarily made with the advice of counsel following an appraisal of all the relevant factors”( People v. Dixon,29 N.Y.2d 55, 57, 323 N.Y.S.2d 825, 272 N.E.2d 329[1971] ).Here, the plea colloquy...