People v. Melendez

• Decision Date: 14 December 1987
• Citation: 522 N.Y.S.2d 235,135 A.D.2d 660
• Parties: The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. Juan MELENDEZ, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 235

522 N.Y.S.2d 235

135 A.D.2d 660

The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v.Juan MELENDEZ, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division Second Department.

Dec. 14, 1987.

Anthony Allan D'Amore, New York City, for appellant.

Elizabeth Holtzman, Dist. Atty., Brooklyn (Barbara D. Underwood and Darrell Fields, of counsel; Marcia Thurmond, on the brief), for respondent.

Before MANGANO, J.P., and BROWN, LAWRENCE, WEINSTEIN and KUNZEMAN, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County(Marano, J.), rendered February 27, 1986, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fourth degree, upon his plea of guilty, and imposing sentence.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The decision of whether to permit a defendant to withdraw a previously entered plea of guilty rests within the sound discretion of the sentencing court(CPL 220.60[3];People v. Stubbs, 110 A.D.2d 725, 727, 487 N.Y.S.2d 824;People v. Kelsch, 96 A.D.2d 677, 678, 466 N.Y.S.2d 535).In the instant case, the plea was knowingly and voluntarily made in the presence of competent counsel after the court had fully apprised the defendant of the consequences of his plea.Significantly, the defendant's earlier admission of guilt was not accompanied by any claim of innocence.Inasmuch as the defendant was afforded ample opportunity to state the basis for his withdrawal application, no error resulted from the absence of an evidentiary hearing with respect to his conclusory allegations that he was in fact innocent and that his lack of...