| People v Martorell |
| 2011 NY Slip Op 07134 [88 AD3d 485] |
| October 11, 2011 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v LarryMartorell, Appellant. |
—[*1] Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Matthew T. Murphy of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard D. Carruthers, J.), rendered April 15,2009, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of assault in the first degree, and sentencinghim, as a second felony offender, to a term of eight years, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant did not preserve his claim that the court failed to conduct an adequate inquiry intohis possible justification defense during the plea allocution, and we decline to review it in theinterest of justice. The narrow exception to the preservation rule explained in People vLopez (71 NY2d 662, 665-666 [1988]) does not apply because defendant's allocution did notcast doubt on his guilt. The court's duty to inquire was not triggered by statements defendantmade to the police that may have suggested a possible justification defense, since defendant "didnot reiterate those statements at his plea allocution" (People v Negron, 222 AD2d 327,327 [1995], lv denied 88 NY2d 882 [1996]). As an alternative holding, we find thatdefendant knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily pleaded guilty. In particular, the courtspecifically warned defendant that by pleading guilty he would be giving up any self-defenseclaim. Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Friedman, Catterson, Moskowitz and Abdus-Salaam, JJ.