People v. Farnsworth

ROSE, J.

Matthew C. Hug, Albany, for appellant.

Karen Heggen, District Attorney, Ballston Spa (Gordon W. Eddy of counsel), for respondent.

Before: LAHTINEN, J.P., ROSE, LYNCH, CLARK and AARONS, JJ.

ROSE, J. Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Saratoga County (Sypniewski, J.), rendered July 14, 2015, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of criminal possession of marihuana in the second degree.

In March 2015, pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, defendant things, that his plea was coerced because the People forced him to plead to a reduced charge conditioned on a specific sentence of jail followed by five years of probation and a promise not to prosecute his wife on felony charges. The People opposed the motion, and County Court, in a June 2015 order, denied defendant's motion, finding that defendant's plea was made knowingly and voluntarily and that there was no element of coerciveness in any aspect of the negotiated plea agreement. Thereafter, in accordance with the plea agreement, County Court sentenced defendant to six months in jail with five years of probation. Defendant now appeals.

We affirm. While defendant's contention that County Court abused its discretion in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea is not precluded by the appeal waiver and was preserved by his unsuccessful motion to withdraw his guilty plea (see People v. Burns, 133 A.D.3d 1045, 1046, 20 N.Y.S.3d 669 [2015] ; People v. Colon, 122 A.D.3d 956, 957, 994 N.Y.S.2d 725 [2014] ), we find his claim to be without merit. “ ‘Whether to permit a defendant to withdraw his or her plea of guilty is left to the sound discretion of County Court, and withdrawal will generally not be permitted absent some evidence of innocence, fraud or mistake in its inducement’ ” (People v. Burns, 133 A.D.3d at 1046, 20 N.Y.S.3d 669, quoting People v. Massia, 131 A.D.3d 1280, 1281, 15 N.Y.S.3d 515 [2015], lv. denied 26 N.Y.3d 1041, 22 N.Y.S.3d 170, 43 N.E.3d 380 [2015] [internal quotation marks, brackets and citations omitted]; see People v. Riddick, 136 A.D.3d 1124, 1124, 24 N.Y.S.3d 456 [2016] ). “[S]o long as the plea agreement is voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently made, the fact that it is linked to the prosecutor's acceptance of a plea bargain favorable to a third person does not, by itself, make defendant's plea illegal” (People v. Fiumefreddo, 82 N.Y.2d 536, 544, 605 N.Y.S.2d 671, 626 N.E.2d 646 [1993] ; see People v. Eaddy, 200 A.D.2d 896, 897, 606 N.Y.S.2d 928 [1994], lv. denied 83 N.Y.2d 852, 612 N.Y.S.2d 383, 634 N.E.2d 984 [1994] ).

While defendant's wife received a favorable outcome or People v. Fiumefreddo, 82 N.Y.2d at 543, 605 N.Y.S.2d 671, 626 N.E.2d 646 ; People v. Pelkey, 63 A.D.3d 1188, 1189–1190, 879 N.Y.S.2d 842 [2009], lv. denied 13 N.Y.3d 748, 886 N.Y.S.2d 102, 914 N.E.2d 1020 [2009] ; People v. Eaddy, 200 A.D.2d at 897, 606 N.Y.S.2d 928 ).

Inasmuch as the record reveals no legitimate question about the voluntariness of defendant's plea (see People v. McKinney, 122 A.D.3d 1083, 1084, 995 N.Y.S.2d 854 [2014], lv. denied 25 N.Y.3d 1167, 15 N.Y.S.3d 299, 36 N.E.3d 102 [2015] ; compare People v. Brown, 14 N.Y.3d at 116, 897 N.Y.S.2d 674, 924 N.E.2d 782, with People v. Tinsley, 35 N.Y.2d 926, 927, 365 N.Y.S.2d 161, 324 N.E.2d 544 [1974] ), we also reject defendant's contention that County Court abused its discretion in failing to conduct an evidentiary hearing prior to denying defendant's motion to withdraw his plea (see People v. Riddick, 136 A.D.3d at 1124, 24 N.Y.S.3d 456; People v. Shurock, 83 A.D.3d 1342, 1343, 920 N.Y.S.2d 862 [2011] ). Furthermore, because the “offer of a plea bargain is not a constitutional right, but a matter of prosecutorial discretion,” we find nothing in the record before us upon which to conclude that defendant's constitutional right to due process was infringed by the plea bargain that was offered to him or that the plea agreement was the product of an unlawful plea bargaining policy (People v. Cohen, 186 A.D.2d 843, 843, 588 N.Y.S.2d 211 [1992] ; see Weatherford v. Bursey, 429 U.S. 545, 561, 97 S.Ct. 837, 51 L.Ed.2d 30 [1977] ; People v. Humphrey, 30 A.D.3d 766, 767, 816 N.Y.S.2d 393 [2006], lv. denied 7 N.Y.3d 813, 822 N.Y.S.2d 488, 855 N.E.2d 804 [2006] ; cf. People v. Jacques, 79 A.D.3d 1812, 1812, 913 N.Y.S.2d 609 [2010], lv. denied 16 N.Y.3d 896, 926 N.Y.S.2d 31, 949 N.E.2d 979 [2011] ).

LAHTINEN, J.P., LYNCH, CLARK and AARONS, JJ., concur.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.