Opinion
September 16, 1991
Appeal from the County Court, Suffolk County (Sherman, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
The decision as to whether to permit a defendant to withdraw a previously entered plea of guilty rests within the sound discretion of the court (see, People v. Pettway, 140 A.D.2d 721; People v. Melendez, 135 A.D.2d 660). A defendant may not withdraw his guilty plea by proffering an unsupported claim of innocence where the plea was voluntarily made with the advice of competent counsel following an appraisal of all relevant factors (see, People v. Tannenbaum, 116 A.D.2d 677). In this case, the sentencing court did not improvidently exercise its discretion in its refusing to grant the defendant's motion to vacate his plea upon his stated belief that he was unaware that the offense to which he was pleading guilty was a felony and his unsupported assertions that he was not with the complainant on the date of crime. Mangano, P.J., Sullivan, Harwood and Miller, JJ., concur.