People v Baldwin |
2021 NY Slip Op 05050 [197 AD3d 1442] |
September 23, 2021 |
Appellate Division, Third Department |
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
The People of the State of New York,
Respondent, v Dakota W. Baldwin, Appellant. |
Clea Weiss, Ithaca, for appellant.
Weeden A. Wetmore, District Attorney, Elmira (Zachary S. Persichini of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Chemung County (Baker, J.), rendered February 25, 2019, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of attempted assault in the second degree.
Defendant was charged in a single-count indictment with assault in the second degree. The charge stemmed from an incident wherein defendant, while on suicide watch in the local jail, assaulted a correction officer who was attempting to remove defendant's bedsheets from his cell. In full satisfaction of that indictment and other pending charges, defendant pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of attempted assault in the second degree with the understanding that he would be sentenced to a prison term of 2 to 4 years. County Court sentenced defendant as a second felony offender to the contemplated term of imprisonment, and this appeal ensued.
We affirm. Defendant challenges the sentence as harsh and excessive and contends that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel at sentencing when counsel failed to advocate for a more lenient sentence. The sentence, however, was in accord with a negotiated plea bargain, and defendant does not seek to vacate the plea. As for counsel's representation, defendant declined the opportunity to speak at sentencing, rendering his claim of ineffective assistance unpreserved (see People v Smith, 123 AD3d 1233, 1234 [2014], lv denied 25 NY3d 953 [2015]). In any event, counsel noted the mitigating factors set forth in the presentence investigation report and encouraged County Court to honor the bargained-for sentence, a position that hardly constitutes ineffective assistance (see People v Carver, 27 NY3d 418, 421 [2016]; People v Hockenbury, 190 AD3d 1155, 1157 [2021], lv denied 37 NY3d 957 [2021]).
Defendant also urges this Court to invoke its interest of justice jurisdiction to reduce the
sentence to a prison term of 1
Lynch, J.P., Clark, Aarons, Pritzker and Reynolds Fitzgerald, JJ., concur. Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.