People v. Scott

Summary

The Appellate Division, First Department unanimously affirmed a judgment convicting Brett Scott, upon his guilty plea, of attempted murder in the second degree and sentencing him as a second violent felony offender to 13 years' imprisonment followed by five years of postrelease supervision. The court held that the defendant failed to preserve his claim that the plea was involuntary because the postrelease supervision term was not stated during the plea colloquy, and alternatively found that he pleaded guilty with full knowledge of the consequences.

Holdings

1. Defendant failed to preserve his claim that his plea was involuntary because the court did not inform him of the postrelease-supervision term during the plea colloquy, because he neither objected to the allocution nor moved to withdraw his plea.
2. The narrow exception to the preservation requirement was inapplicable because defendant had the actual and practical ability to move to withdraw his plea.
3. Alternatively, the record established that defendant pleaded guilty with full knowledge of the consequences of his plea, including the prison and postrelease-supervision terms.
4. There was no basis for reducing defendant's sentence.

Questions Presented

1. Whether defendant preserved his claim that his guilty plea was involuntary because the court did not inform him during the plea colloquy of the postrelease-supervision term.
2. Whether the narrow exception to New York's preservation requirement applied under the circumstances.
3. Alternatively, whether the record established that defendant pleaded guilty with full knowledge of the prison and postrelease-supervision consequences.
4. Whether the sentence should be reduced.

Disposition

affirmed