People v. Stevens

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Charles H. Solomon, J.), rendered November 29, 2011, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender, to a term of two years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant did not preserve his claim that the court erred by imposing sentence without conducting an inquiry into the validity of defendant’s guilty plea (see e.g. People v Thompson, 32 AD3d 743 [1st Dept 2006], lv denied 9 NY3d 870 [2007]), and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we reject it on the merits. The record establishes the voluntariness of the plea (see People v Fiumefreddo, 82 NY2d 536 [1993]), and, at sentencing, the court gave defendant an opportunity to discuss the claims he made in his pro se presentencing submissions to the court. Defendant, who never said that he was moving to withdraw his plea, expressly stated that he was ready to proceed with sentencing. Moreover, he made only generalized complaints about police practices in unrelated cases against other persons, and about his counsel’s performance. Accordingly, the circumstances did not warrant further inquiry.

Concur — Friedman, J.E, Renwick, Moskowitz, Richter and Manzanet-Daniels, JJ.