Opinion
2000-01416
Submitted March 5, 2003.
March 24, 2003.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Dutchess County (Dolan, J.), rendered January 26, 2000, convicting him of assault in the first degree, upon his plea of guilty, and imposing sentence.
Ethel P. Ross, Rye, N.Y., for appellant.
William V. Grady, District Attorney, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (Bridget Rahilly Steller of counsel), for respondent.
Before: FRED T. SANTUCCI, J.P., GABRIEL M. KRAUSMAN, LEO F. McGINITY, ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, STEPHEN G. CRANE, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
A determination by the hearing court as to whether a defendant is fit to proceed is accorded great deference (see People v. Mendez, 297 A.D.2d 291; People v. Martin, 291 A.D.2d 459, lv denied 98 N.Y.2d 653; People v. Cox, 196 A.D.2d 596, 597). Contrary to the defendant's contention, the hearing court correctly determined that he was fit to proceed within the meaning of CPL 730.10(1). The testimony of the experts finding the defendant competent was uncontroverted, and satisfied the People's burden of demonstrating the defendant's fitness by a preponderance of the evidence (see People v. Mendez, supra; People v. Cox, supra).
The defendant's remaining contentions are without merit.
SANTUCCI, J.P., KRAUSMAN, McGINITY, SCHMIDT and CRANE, JJ., concur.