Opinion
No. 570607/11.
2013-03-1
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Mario REYES, Defendant–Appellant.
Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Frank P. Nervo, J.), rendered June 9, 2011, convicting him, upon a plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, and imposing sentence.
PRESENT: LOWE, III, P.J., SCHOENFELD, HUNTER, JR., JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Judgment of conviction (Frank P. Nervo, J.), rendered June 9, 2011, affirmed.
Defendant's present challenge to the adequacy of his plea allocution, which does not come within the narrow exception to the preservation requirement, is unpreserved for appellate review since he failed to move to withdraw his guilty plea or seek to vacate the judgment of conviction ( see People v. Lopez, 71 N.Y.2d 662, 665 [1988] ), and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we also reject it on the merits. Defendant's counseled guilty plea to a single misdemeanor drug possession charge—with the understanding that he would be sentenced to time served and in satisfaction of several outstanding charges, including two felony charges—was knowing, intelligent and voluntary. Defendant's plea allocution included his admission that he was “in fact”
guilty of the drug possession charge, and nothing in the allocution cast doubt on his guilt ( see People v. Toxey, 86 N.Y.2d 775 [1995] ).