People v Martorell

People v Martorell 2011 NY Slip Op 07134 Decided on October 11, 2011 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on October 11, 2011
Mazzarelli, J.P., Friedman, Catterson, Moskowitz, Abdus-Salaam, JJ.
5666 3352/08

[*1]The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

v

Larry Martorell, Defendant-Appellant.



 
Richard M. Greenberg, Office of the Appellate Defender, New
York (Matthew I. Fleischman of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Matthew T.
Murphy of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard D. Carruthers, J.), rendered April 15, 2009, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of assault in the first degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 8 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant did not preserve his claim that the court failed to conduct an adequate inquiry into his possible justification defense during the plea allocution, and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. The narrow exception to the preservation rule explained in People v Lopez (71 NY2d 662, 665-666 [1988]) does not apply because defendant's allocution did not cast doubt on his guilt. The court's duty to inquire was not triggered by statements defendant made to the police that may have suggested a possible justification defense, since defendant "did not reiterate those statements at his plea allocution" (People v Negron, 222 AD2d 327, 327 [1995], lv denied 88 NY2d 882 [1996]). As an alternative holding, we find that defendant knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily pleaded guilty. In particular, the court specifically warned defendant that by pleading guilty he would be giving up any self-defense claim.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: OCTOBER 11, 2011

CLERK