Opinion
March 26, 1998
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Herbert Altman, J.).
Defendant's motion to withdraw his plea was properly denied without a hearing and without appointment of new counsel. The record indicates that a favorable plea was entered after a thorough allocution, and that defendant admitted that he committed the charged acts, belying defendant's conclusory claims that his plea was induced by his prior Legal Aid attorney's coercion and that he was misinformed as to the promised sentence ( see, People v. Fiumefreddo, 82 N.Y.2d 536; People v. Swinson, 240 A.D.2d 299, lv denied 90 N.Y.2d 911). Defendant was afforded a reasonable opportunity to present his claims in written submissions and statements made to the court and no further inquiry was necessary. The court properly rejected the suggestion, made by the Legal Aid attorney who represented defendant at sentencing, that defendant's claim of "coercion" by the prior Legal Aid attorney created a conflict of interest. The conclusory and patently meritless nature of defendant's claim, namely that he was misinformed about "the time I would get" was flatly contradicted by the plea minutes, and he made no other showing of "coercion" by prior counsel. This, taken together with defendant's long experience with the criminal justice system, rendered further proceedings and appointment of new counsel unnecessary ( People v. Blair, 246 A.D.2d 308; People v. Jenkins, 176 A.D.2d 697, lv denied 79 N.Y.2d 868).
Concur — Ellerin, J. P., Wallach, Rubin, Andrias and Saxe, JJ.