People v. Miller
| Decision Date | 05 July 1977 |
| Parties | , 367 N.E.2d 640 The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. James MILLER, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
Barry H. Friedman, Poughkeepsie, for appellant.
John R. King, Dist. Atty. (Bridget R. Rahilly, Poughkeepsie, of counsel), for respondent.
The order of the Appellate Division is affirmed. Defendant, charged in an indictment with three counts of assault committed upon two corrections officers, was convicted upon his plea of guilty of two counts, in full satisfaction of the indictment. Before accepting the bargained for plea, the court was careful to elicit the details of the crime from the defendant himself. The defendant told the court that, when incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility, he was approached by a guard who explained that he was sent to inspect the prisoner's cell for contraband and also to search the prisoner personally. The defendant balked at the personal search and when the guard persisted, defendant, stating he "thought" he might be assaulted, struck the guard with a stool. After learning of the purported assault by the guard, which in fact never occurred, the court admonished the defendant, "if you're using just the amount of force that you can lawfully use to repel an attack, I don't want you to plead guilty to an assault crime"; to which defendant responded that "if I don't plead guilty and I go to trial I will be convicted anyway". After being satisfied that the plea was voluntary the court, nonetheless, again inquired of the defendant if he still desired to enter a plea of guilty, and defendant stated he did, whereupon the court accepted the plea in full satisfaction of the indictment.
Among the several significant factors which warrant an affirmance in this case are these: (1) the requisite elements of the assault crime appeared from the defendant's own recital of the facts (People v. Serrano, 15 N.Y.2d 304, 308, 258 N.Y.S.2d 386, 388, 206 N.E.2d 330, 331); (2) the record demonstrates that his lawyer was knowledgeable about the incident and that defendant had received adequate representation (People v. Francis, 38 N.Y.2d 150, 154, 379 N.Y.S.2d 21, 24, 341 N.E.2d 540, 542; People v. Nixon, 21 N.Y.2d 338, 354, 287 N.Y.S.2d 659, 671, 234 N.E.2d 687, 696); (3) as a recidivist, the defendant was experienced in the ways of criminal proceedings and not unaware of the possible consequences of trial (People v. Nixon, supra, p. 350, 287 N.Y.S.2d p. 667, 234 N.E.2d p. 693), and (4) the defendant was fully conscious of the possible sentence he might receive and the...
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