People v. Sloan

• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
• Writing for the Court: CASEY
• Citation: People v. Sloan, 645 N.Y.S.2d 336, 228 A.D.2d 975 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996)
• Decision Date: 27 June 1996
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Edward W. SLOAN, Appellant.

Page 336

645 N.Y.S.2d 336

228 A.D.2d 975

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Edward W. SLOAN, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division Third Department.

June 27, 1996.

Joseph J. Balok, Jr., Public Defender, Elmira, for appellant.

James T. Hayden, District Attorney, Elmira, for respondent.

Before CARDONA, P.J., and MERCURE, WHITE, CASEY and PETERS, JJ.

CASEY, Justice.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Chemung County (Castellino, J.), rendered July 29, 1994, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of attempted sodomy in the first degree.

In April 1994, defendant was the subject of an indictment charging him with the crimes of sodomy in the second degree and sexual abuse in the first degree. The charges arose out of allegations that defendant had engaged in oral intercourse with a male under the age of 11 years. As the result of a plea-bargaining agreement, defendant subsequently pleaded guilty to the crime of attempted sodomy in the first degree. In exchange, he was sentenced as a predicate violent felony offender to a prison term of 4 to 8 years.

Defendant appeals, contending that County Court abused its discretion by accepting his guilty plea inasmuch as defendant's intoxicated condition at the time he perpetrated the crime in question should have put the court on notice that his actions and subsequent guilty plea might not have been voluntary. Initially, we note that this issue has not been preserved for appellate review due to defendant's failure to make either a motion to withdraw his plea or a motion to vacate the judgment of conviction (see, People v. Palmo, 223 A.D.2d 952, 636 N.Y.S.2d 910; People v. Molini, 219 A.D.2d 780, 631 N.Y.S.2d 459).

If we were to review the merits of this contention, however, we would find it to be without merit. A review of the plea allocution discloses that the County Court elicited from defendant a complete and coherent recitation of his commission of the crime, including an admission that his intoxication at the time thereof did not prevent him from knowing that the acts he was committing were wrong. Under the circumstances presented here, defendant's statement that he was intoxicated at the time of the crime cannot be construed as the assertion of a defense mandating the withdrawal of his plea (see, People v. Paige, 201 A.D.2d 809, 810, 607 N.Y.S.2d 497, lv. denied 83 N.Y.2d 914, 614 N.Y.S.2d 396, 637 N.E.2d 287; People v. Legault, 180 A.D.2d 912, 913, 580 N.Y.S.2d 115, lv. denied 79 N.Y.2d 1051, 584 N.Y.S.2d 1018, 596 N.E.2d 416). We ...