People v. Thaxton

Oct 2, 2003
Reporters:
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Appeal from a judgment of Monroe County Court (Geraci, Jr., J.), entered February 5, 1999, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of manslaughter in ‍​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‍the first degree.

It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from be and the same hereby is unanimously affirmed.

Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him upon his plea of guilty of manslaughter in the first degree (Penal Law § 125.20 [1]). We reject the contention of defendant that ‍​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‍he was deprived of effective assistance of counsel when defense counsel took a position adverse to that of defendant with respect to his pro se oral motion to withdraw his guilty plea. “The record establishes that defense counsel’s comments did not affect [County] Court’s determination of the pro se ‍​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‍motion[]” (People v Cook, 295 AD2d 888, 888 [2002], lv denied 99 NY2d 534 [2002]; see People v Nawabi, 265 AD2d 156 [1999], lv denied 94 NY2d 865 [1999]). Rather, the court denied the motion “solely on the basis of its own recollection of the record” (People v Burgos, 298 AD2d 190, 190 [2002], lv denied 99 NY2d 580 [2003]). We agree with defendant ‍​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‍that the record does not establish that his waiver of the right to appeal was knowing, voluntary, and intelligent (see People v Boustani, 300 AD2d 313 [2002], lv denied 99 NY2d 612 [2003]; People v Brown, 296 AD2d 860 [2002], lv denied 98 NY2d 767 [2002]), and thus that waiver does not encompass his contention concerning the severity of the ‍​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‍sentence. Nevertheless, we reject defendant’s contention that the sentence is unduly harsh or severe. Present — Pigott, Jr., P.J., Green, Scudder, Gorski and Hayes, JJ.