Opinion
16425 Ind. No. 4648/16 Case No. 2019-05179
10-13-2022
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Tavares GASTON, Defendant–Appellant.
Marianne Karas, Thornwood, for appellant. Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Franklin R. Guenthner of counsel), for respondent.
Marianne Karas, Thornwood, for appellant.
Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Franklin R. Guenthner of counsel), for respondent.
Renwick, J.P., Friedman, Singh, Shulman, Higgitt, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Ann E. Scherzer, J. at plea; Ellen N. Biben, J., at sentencing), rendered September 13, 2019, convicting defendant of attempted robbery in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a term of five years, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant's challenges to his plea are unpreserved, and they do not come within the narrow exception to the preservation requirement ( People v. Bush, 38 N.Y.3d 66, 70–71, 167 N.Y.S.3d 435, 187 N.E.3d 1047 [2022] ); People v. Conceicao, 26 N.Y.3d 375, 382, 23 N.Y.S.3d 124, 44 N.E.3d 199 [2015] ). We decline to review these claims in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we find that the plea was knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily made. In his plea allocution defendant admitted to all of the elements of the crime, while saying nothing that negated any element, and there was no need for the plea court to engage in any further factual inquiry.