| People v Chimilio |
| 2011 NY Slip Op 03122 [83 AD3d 537] |
| April 19, 2011 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Richard Chimilio, Appellant. |
—[*1] Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, New York (Jason S. Whitehead of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (John N. Byrne, J.), rendered May 9, 2006,convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of attempted robbery in the first degree, andsentencing him to a term of 3½ years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly exercised its discretion in denying defendant's motion to withdraw hisguilty plea, without granting a hearing (see People v Frederick, 45 NY2d 520 [1978])."When a defendant moves to withdraw a guilty plea, the nature and extent of the fact-findinginquiry rest[s] largely in the discretion of the Judge to whom the motion is made and a hearingwill be granted only in rare instances" (People v Brown, 14 NY3d 113, 116 [2010] [internal quotationmarks omitted]).
The transcript of the plea proceeding demonstrates that the plea was knowingly, voluntarilyand intelligently made. In his original and supplementary plea withdrawal motions, defendantalleged he was innocent and had been coerced by prior counsel, with particular reference tocounsel's statement that defendant had "no choice" but to plead guilty. Despite ample opportunityto elaborate on his claims, and the assistance of new counsel, defendant did not establish anybasis for vacating the plea or conducting a hearing. He did not give the court any reason tobelieve the allegedly coercive conduct amounted to anything more than frank advice, based onthe strength of the People's case and defendant's predicted sentencing exposure, [*2]to accept the favorable plea offer.
We have considered and rejected defendant's remaining challenges to his plea.Concur—Andrias, J.P., Saxe, Moskowitz, Richter and Manzanet-Daniels, JJ.