People v Temple
2011 NY Slip Op 08654 [89 AD3d 644]
November 29, 2011
Appellate Division, First Department
As corrected through Wednesday, January 4th, 2012


The People of the State of New York,Respondent,
v
Warren Temple, Appellant.

[*1]Richard M. Greenberg, Office of the Appellate Defender, New York (Eunice C. Lee ofcounsel), for appellant.

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Ryan Gee of counsel), forrespondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Renee A. White, J.), rendered December 19,2008, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of three counts of robbery in the seconddegree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of nine years,unanimously affirmed.

The court properly exercised its discretion in denying defendant's motion to withdraw hisguilty plea (see People v Frederick, 45 NY2d 520 [1978]). "When a defendant moves towithdraw a guilty plea, the nature and extent of the fact-finding inquiry rest[s] largely in thediscretion of the Judge to whom the motion is made and a hearing will be granted only in rareinstances" (People v Brown, 14NY3d 113, 116 [2010] [internal quotation marks omitted]).

The court afforded defendant a sufficient opportunity to present his claims. Although thecourt expressed skepticism about the merits of the application, it permitted defendant to addressthe court with regard to each of his claims. Defendant claimed that he was innocent, that hisattorney coerced him into pleading guilty, and that he was under the influence of drugs at thetime of the plea. However, these claims were conclusory and unsubstantiated. The recordestablishes that the plea was knowing, intelligent and voluntary.

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur—Saxe, J.P., Friedman,Renwick, DeGrasse and Freedman, JJ.


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