| People v Garcia |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 03843 [62 AD3d 507] |
| May 14, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v JohnGarcia, Appellant. |
—[*1] Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Malancha Chanda of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bonnie G. Wittner, J.), rendered May 16,2008, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of grand larceny in the second degree andidentity theft in the first degree, and sentencing him to concurrent terms of 1 to 3 years,unanimously affirmed.
After reviewing the parties' extensive submissions and employing its own familiarity withthe case, the court properly denied defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, in which healleged ineffective assistance of counsel. In deciding such a motion, "[t]he nature and extent ofthe fact-finding procedures . . . rest largely in the discretion of the Judge to whomthe motion is made. Only in the rare instance will a defendant be entitled to an evidentiaryhearing." (People v Tinsley, 35 NY2d 926, 927 [1974]; see also People vFrederick, 45 NY2d 520 [1978].) The record establishes that defendant received effectiveassistance of counsel (see People v Ford, 86 NY2d 397, 404 [1995]). Defendant did notsubstantiate his claim that his attorney's investigation and preparation were inadequate, theevidence submitted on the motion demonstrated that the attorney's misstatement about thepostplea appealability of a statutory speedy trial ruling came after defendant had already pleadedguilty, and defendant's claim that counsel failed to advise him of a more favorable plea offer wassupported only by defendant's self-serving statement, which was contradicted by extensivecircumstantial evidence.
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.
We have considered and rejected defendant's remaining argument.Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Saxe, Nardelli, Renwick and Freedman, JJ.