People v Atkins
2012 NY Slip Op 01331 [92 AD3d 551]
February 21, 2012
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, March 28, 2012


The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Michael Atkins, Appellant.

[*1] Richard M. Greenberg, Office of the Appellate Defender, New York (Lauren Stephens-Davidowitz of counsel), for appellant.

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Timothy C. Stone of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Berkman, J.), rendered September 16, 2009, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender whose prior felony conviction was a violent felony, to a term of 3½ years, unanimously affirmed.

The record establishes the voluntariness of defendant's plea, and the court properly denied defendant's plea withdrawal motion (see People v Frederick, 45 NY2d 520 [1978]). During the plea allocution, whenever defendant made a statement creating an ambiguity about the voluntariness of the plea, the court made a further inquiry that established that defendant was pleading guilty of his own free will. The court made clear to defendant that it was his choice whether to plead guilty or go to trial.

We have considered and rejected defendant's remaining claims. Concur—Andrias, J.P., Saxe, Acosta, Freedman and Richter, JJ.