Opinion
12-01-2015
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Fabian FAULKNOR, Defendant–Appellant.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Claudia S. Trupp of counsel), for appellant. Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Marianne Stracquadanio of counsel), for respondent.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Claudia S. Trupp of counsel), for appellant.
Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Marianne Stracquadanio of counsel), for respondent.
Opinion
Judgments, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Judith Lieb, J.), rendered June 25, 2013, convicting defendant, upon his pleas of guilty, of murder in the second degree and assault in the second degree and sentencing him to an aggregate term of 22 years to life, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant's unpreserved challenges to the validity of his plea do not come within the narrow exception to the preservation requirement (see People v. Lopez, 71 N.Y.2d 662, 665, 529 N.Y.S.2d 465, 525 N.E.2d 5 [1988] ), and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we find that the plea was knowing, intelligent and voluntary. The record fails to support defendant's assertion that the sentencing court's remarks violated the plea agreement (see e.g. People v. Jeffrey, 254 A.D.2d 230, 679 N.Y.S.2d 306 [1st Dept.1998], lv. denied 92 N.Y.2d 1033, 684 N.Y.S.2d 498, 707 N.E.2d 453 [1998] ). Unlike the situation in People v. Mox, 20 N.Y.3d 936, 958 N.Y.S.2d 670, 982 N.E.2d 590 (2012), there was nothing in the actual plea allocution that triggered a duty to inquire into an potential insanity defense, and the fact that there had been proceedings under CPL article 730, which had established defendant's competency, did not trigger such a duty of inquiry.
Regardless of whether defendant made a valid appeal waiver, we perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.
MAZZARELLI, J.P., MOSKOWITZ, RICHTER, MANZANET–DANIELS, JJ., concur.