From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

People v. Welch

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Apr 20, 1987
129 A.D.2d 752 (N.Y. App. Div. 1987)

Opinion

April 20, 1987

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Marano, J.).


Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

Prior to sentencing, the defendant moved to withdraw his plea of guilty predicated upon a misunderstanding of the plea bargain agreement. He thought he would not have to serve any additional period of incarceration, but would be immediately released on parole, because the credit for time served on a previous conviction that had been reversed on appeal satisfied the minimum term of promised sentence.

At the time the defendant pleaded guilty, the court promised to impose a sentence of one-year-to-life imprisonment and to resentence the defendant, upon an application pursuant to Penal Law § 60.09, to an indeterminate sentence of 1 to 3 years' incarceration. The court also advised the defendant that it had no objection to defense counsel applying to the Division of Parole for permission to have the defendant immediately released on parole, in view of the fact the defendant had served approximately 19 months on a prior reversed conviction, and would accord defense counsel sufficient time to make the application. At the hearing on the defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, both the defendant and his counsel admitted that the court never promised the defendant that he would not have to serve any period of incarceration. Since an objective reading of the plea bargain agreement was susceptible to but one interpretation, the defendant's misunderstanding of the agreement, or disappointment upon discovering that the Parole Board would require his incarceration for a period of time, does not suffice as a reason for permitting him to withdraw his guilty plea (see, People v Cataldo, 39 N.Y.2d 578; People v Latine, 71 A.D.2d 697). The sentencing court fulfilled the promises it made at the time it accepted the defendant's plea of guilty. Thompson, J.P., Lawrence, Rubin, Kunzeman and Sullivan, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Welch

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Apr 20, 1987
129 A.D.2d 752 (N.Y. App. Div. 1987)
Case details for

People v. Welch

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. DOUGLAS WELCH…

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

Date published: Apr 20, 1987

Citations

129 A.D.2d 752 (N.Y. App. Div. 1987)

Citing Cases

People v. Walker

The defendant's purported misunderstanding of his potential exposure to incarceration for the offense of…

People v. Santana

"Compliance with a plea bargain is to be tested against an objective reading of the bargain, and not against…