PEOPLE v. ATTERBURY (1999)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard Andrias, J.), rendered October 25, 1995, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of robbery in the first degree, and sentencing him to a term of 7 to 21 years, unanimously affirmed.

 Defendant's motion to withdraw his plea was properly denied.   His claim of duress is belied by the record, which reflects that the plea to robbery, in satisfaction of an indictment charging felony murder of two victims, was knowing, intelligent and voluntary (see, People v. Frederick, 45 N.Y.2d 520, 410 N.Y.S.2d 555, 382 N.E.2d 1332).   In this regard, we note that defendant's purported emotional episode, asserted on appeal to be evidence of involuntariness, occurred several hours before his plea allocution, at which time he appeared composed and calm.   We conclude that defendant received effective assistance of counsel and find no support in the record for defendant's claim that counsel's allegedly inadequate performance contributed to defendant's decision to plead guilty.   Defendant did not establish good cause for substitution of counsel, since his claimed lack of confidence in counsel was groundless (see, People v. Medina, 44 N.Y.2d 199, 404 N.Y.S.2d 588, 375 N.E.2d 768).   Contrary to defendant's claim, we find that in his factual allocution he unequivocally admitted his complicity in the robbery (see, People v. Davis, 71 N.Y.2d 1002, 530 N.Y.S.2d 94, 525 N.E.2d 740), and that the allocution did not cast any doubt on his guilt.   We have considered and rejected defendant's remaining claims.

MEMORANDUM DECISION.