After affording defendant sufficient opportunity to elaborate on his conclusory claim of innocence, the court properly exercised its discretion in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea (see, People v. Frederick, 45 N.Y.2d 520). The record reveals that the plea was made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily.
Defense counsel's statement, in response to an inquiry made by the court after it had already imposed sentence, that counsel knew of no basis for making a motion to withdraw the plea, did not render counsel ineffective or create a conflict of interest. Rather, in light of the circumstance that the defendant himself offered no legal basis upon which to withdraw his plea, counsel was merely confirming that he had no information to support defendant's conclusory statements. Moreover, counsel's statement could not have influenced the court's decision to deny defendant's plea withdrawal motion since that decision had already been made (People v. Rodriguez, 189 A.D.2d 684, lv denied 81 N.Y.2d 892).
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.