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People v. Lopez

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Jan 17, 2002
290 A.D.2d 323 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)

Opinion

5908

January 17, 2002.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bonnie Wittner, J.), rendered July 6, 2000, convicting him, upon his plea of guilty, of attempted arson in the first degree, and sentencing him to a term of 9 3/4 to 19½ years, unanimously affirmed.

Rona Feinberg for respondent.

Michael J. Z. Mannheimer for defendant-appellant.

Before: Ellerin, J.P., Lerner, Rubin, Buckley, Friedman, JJ.


Defendant's contention that the court erred in failing to conduct a hearing to determine whether his cooperation had been sufficient, under the terms of the agreement, to require specific performance of the People's promise of leniency, was not preserved for appellate review since defendant neither requested such a hearing nor moved to withdraw his plea of guilty (see, People v. Anonymous, 249 A.D.2d 167), and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. Were we to review this claim, we would find that the conflicting accounts of the crime that defendant presented during interviews with Federal and State prosecutors after his plea called his credibility into question, making it impossible to utilize him as a witness in any future prosecutions. The record, including defendant's concession that at one point following his plea he completely recanted his own admissions of guilt, fully supports the court's finding that defendant violated the terms of the agreement. In any event, the cooperation agreement clearly provided that it was up to the People to determine whether defendant's cooperation was satisfactory. Furthermore, there was no improper modification of the agreement. We note that defendant received a sentence that was significantly shorter than the maximum sentence he could have received pursuant to the terms of the agreement. We have considered and rejected defendant's related arguments.

We perceive no basis for reduction of sentence.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.


Summaries of

People v. Lopez

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Jan 17, 2002
290 A.D.2d 323 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
Case details for

People v. Lopez

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, RESPONDENT v. GEORGE LOPEZ…

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

Date published: Jan 17, 2002

Citations

290 A.D.2d 323 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
735 N.Y.S.2d 781

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