People v Champagne

People v Champagne 2010 NY Slip Op 03246 [72 AD3d 557] April 22, 2010 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Ellison S. Champagne, Appellant.

—[*1] Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Robert S. Dean of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Craig A. Ascher of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Robert M. Stolz, J.), rendered February 4, 2009, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, and sentencing him to a term of five years' probation, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly exercised its discretion in denying defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea. The record establishes that defendant's favorable plea was knowing, intelligent and voluntary (People v Fiumefreddo, 82 NY2d 536, 542-544 [1993]). Defendant, who presented his claim of innocence through his written submission and declined to address the court, received a sufficient opportunity to advance his claim, and the record supports the court's rejection, as unreliable, of the purportedly exculpatory evidence he presented (see e.g. People v Randall, 22 AD3d 261 [2005], lv denied 6 NY3d 852 [2006]).

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur—Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Acosta, DeGrasse and Richter, JJ.