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People v. Walker
Citations: 224 A.D.2d 781; 637 N.Y.S.2d 520; 1996 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1029
Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York; February 7, 1996; New York; State Appellate Court
Defendant was convicted in Columbia County on March 8, 1994, for attempted murder in the second degree, two counts of first degree criminal use of a weapon, first degree reckless endangerment, and first degree assault, following a plea of guilty. Prior to this, on March 7, 1994, he was convicted of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, receiving a sentence of 6 to 20 years. The next day, he entered a plea bargain for five unrelated charges, agreeing to plead guilty in exchange for concurrent sentences with his previous conviction. Consequently, he was sentenced to 8 1/3 to 25 years for attempted murder, 8 1/3 to 25 years for each of the two weapons charges, 2 ½ to 7 years for reckless endangerment, and 5 to 15 years for assault, all to run concurrently. The appellate court previously reversed the drug conviction on grounds of unfair trial due to evidentiary rulings and remitted for a new trial. In the current appeal, the defendant argued that his guilty pleas should also be reversed because they were induced by the prosecution's promise of concurrent sentences, now complicated by the reversal of the drug conviction. However, the court found that the guilty pleas were voluntary, uncoerced, and made with competent legal representation, and the prosecution honored its promise regarding sentence concurrency. The court concluded there was no basis to reverse the subsequent convictions based on the earlier conviction's reversal, affirming the judgment. All justices concurred in the decision.