| People v Mitchell |
| 2011 NY Slip Op 08632 [89 AD3d 628] |
| November 29, 2011 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Robert Mitchell, Appellant. |
—[*1] Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Jean Soo Park of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Megan Tallmer, J.), rendered November 19, 2007,convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of two counts of murder in the second degree, andsentencing him to concurrent terms of 25 years to life, unanimously affirmed.
The sentencing court properly exercised its discretion in denying defendant's motion towithdraw his guilty plea (see People v Frederick, 45 NY2d 520 [1978]). "When adefendant moves to withdraw a guilty plea, the nature and extent of the fact-finding inquiryrest[s] largely in the discretion of the Judge to whom the motion is made and a hearing will begranted only in rare instances" (People vBrown, 14 NY3d 113, 116 [2010] [internal quotation marks omitted]).
The court afforded defendant a full opportunity to present his claims both orally and inwriting, and with the assistance of newly appointed counsel. Defendant claimed that the attorneywho represented him at the time of the plea rendered ineffective assistance. However, that claimwas conclusory, unsubstantiated and contradicted by the record. The court relied on its familiaritywith the plea allocution and prior proceedings, and properly concluded that the plea wasknowing, intelligent and voluntary. The prior attorney negotiated a favorable disposition thatavoided the consecutive sentences that could have been imposed given the facts of this case(see People v Ford, 86 NY2d 397, 404 [1995]), and neither defendant nor his newattorney cast any doubt on the prior attorney's effectiveness. Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P.,Andrias, Friedman, Catterson and Freedman, JJ.