People v Hart

People v Hart 2012 NY Slip Op 00641 Decided on January 31, 2012 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 January 31, 2012
Tom, J.P., Sweeny, DeGrasse, Abdus-Salaam, Manzanet-Daniels, JJ.
6640 4235/06

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

v

Russell Hart, Defendant-Appellant.




Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Robert S. Dean of
counsel), for appellant.
Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Megan R. Roberts
of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Eugene Oliver, J. at plea; Efrain Alvarado, J. at sentencing), rendered September 10, 2010, convicting defendant of assault in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of three years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant, who did not move to withdraw his guilty plea, did not preserve his challenge to his 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 the allocution did not
cast doubt on defendant's guilt. As an alternative holding, we find that defendant's plea was knowing, intelligent and voluntary (see People v Goldstein, 12 NY3d 295, 300-301 [2009]).

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

ENTERED: JANUARY 31, 2012

CLERK