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People v. Brooks

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department
Mar 9, 2000
270 A.D.2d 569 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000)

Opinion

March 9, 2000

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Broome County (Mathews, J.), rendered February 6, 1998, convicting defendant upon her plea of guilty of the crimes of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree (two counts) and conspiracy in the second degree.

Michael C. Ross, Bloomingburg, for appellant.

Eliot Spitzer, Attorney-General (David J. Mudd of counsel), White Plains, for respondent.

Before: MERCURE, J.P., CREW III, PETERS, SPAIN and GRAFFEO, JJ.


MEMORANDUM AND ORDER


An indictment charged defendant with conspiracy in the second degree (count one), two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree (counts two and four), and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree (counts three and five) as the result of her participation in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Defendant disposed of the indictment with a counseled plea of guilty to conspiracy in the second degree, as charged in the first count, and to counts three and five of the indictment, each as reduced to the crime of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree. The guilty pleas were entered with the express understanding, stated upon the record in open court, that defendant would be sentenced to consecutive prison terms of 6 years to life and 5 years to life on the criminal possession counts, and a concurrent term of 8_ to 25 years on the conspiracy count. Sentenced in accordance with the plea bargain, defendant now appeals.

We affirm. The majority of defendant's arguments are unpreserved for our review by virtue of defendant's failure to move to withdraw her guilty plea or to vacate the judgment of conviction (see, People v. Mackey, 77 N.Y.2d 846; People v. Snow, 253 A.D.2d 985, lv denied 93 N.Y.2d 858) and are found to lack merit in any event. Notably, a defendant who accepts a plea bargain surrenders the right to make a subsequent challenge to the factual basis for the plea (see, People v. Rivera, 266 A.D.2d 576, 698 N.Y.S.2d 69; People v. Morelli, 228 A.D.2d 818, lv denied 88 N.Y.2d 990) and there was nothing in defendant's plea allocution that would have given notice of an available agency defense or otherwise cast doubt upon defendant's guilt or the voluntariness of her plea (see, People v. Thompkins, 233 A.D.2d 759, 760; cf., People v. Lopez, 71 N.Y.2d 662, 666; People v. Ocasio, 265 A.D.2d 675, 676-677, 697 N.Y.S.2d 368, 370).

Further, the record is devoid of evidence supporting defendant's claims of unreasonable delay in sentencing or denial of effective assistance of counsel. In the latter regard, we note that the test to be applied in the case of a guilty plea, i.e., whether there is an advantageous plea and an absence of record evidence casting doubt on the apparent effectiveness of counsel (see, People v. Ford, 86 N.Y.2d 397, 404), has been satisfied. As a final matter, we are not persuaded to disturb the bargained-for sentence, which was well within the applicable sentencing parameters.

Crew III, Peters, Spain and Graffeo, JJ., concur.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.


Summaries of

People v. Brooks

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department
Mar 9, 2000
270 A.D.2d 569 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000)
Case details for

People v. Brooks

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. CAROL BROOKS, Appellant

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department

Date published: Mar 9, 2000

Citations

270 A.D.2d 569 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000)
704 N.Y.S.2d 524

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