People v. Garcia (Miguel)

The People of the State of New York, Respondent, against Miguel Garcia, Defendant-Appellant. Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (William McGuire, J.), rendered December 4, 2012, convicting him, upon a plea of guilty, of harassment in the second degree, and imposing sentence. Per Curiam. Judgment of conviction (William McGuire, J.), rendered December 4, 2012, affirmed. Defendant's guilty plea was knowing, intelligent and voluntary. At the plea proceeding, defendant pleaded guilty to a single count of second-degree harassment, a violation, in full satisfaction of an accusatory instrument charging, inter alia, misdemeanor offenses of third-degree assault and third-degree menacing. Defendant, with the assistance of a Spanish interpreter, personally confirmed that he was pleading guilty voluntarily, that he had "discussed this matter fully" with counsel and that he understood he was waiving the right to a trial, the right to testify on his own behalf, and the right to confront the witnesses against him. Thus, the record as a whole establishes defendant's understanding and waiver of his constitutional rights (see Boykin v Alabama, 395 US 238 [1969]), despite the absence of a full enumeration of all the rights waived (see People v Sougou, 26 NY3d 1052, 1054 [2015]; People v Simmons, 138 AD3d 520 [2016], lv denied 27 NY3d 1139 [2016]). Furthermore, defendant's responses to the questions propounded during his allocution belie the claim of difficulty in understanding his interpreter (see People v Curet, 176 AD2d 160 [1991], lv denied 78 NY2d 1127 [1991]) THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT. I concur I concur I concur Decision Date: February 22, 2018