Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Albany County (Breslin, J.), rendered May 24, 2000, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of murder in the second degree.
Defendant was charged with murder in the first degree, three counts of murder in the second degree, robbery in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree stemming from his participation with Marvin Williams in the slaying and robbery of an alleged drug dealer. Pursuant to a negotiated plea bargain, defendant pleaded guilty to one count of murder in the second degree in full satisfaction of the charges and was to be sentenced to 22 years to life in prison. Prior to sentencing, defendant unsuccessfully moved to withdraw his plea. Sentenced as agreed, he now appeals.
Defendant argues that County Court erred in denying his motion to withdraw his plea. We disagree. “It is well settled that
Here, defendant supported his motion with an affidavit executed by Williams. In that affidavit, Williams, who had already been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison pursuant to his own negotiated plea, averred that he had falsely implicated defendant in the shooting and that he, in fact, had pulled the trigger. Significantly, both Williams and defendant had each previously testified at their respective plea allocutions that defendant was the shooter. We view Williams’ recantation of his previously sworn testimony as inherently unreliable, particularly since he had already been sentenced for his involvement in the incident (see People v Brown,
We have reviewed defendant’s remaining contentions and find them to be without merit.
Mercure, J.E, Crew III, Rose and Kane, JJ., concur. Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
