NY appeals court voids conviction over unfulfilled promise

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A state appeals court has reversed robbery and weapon convictions because of an improper plea agreement.

Defendant Adam M. Robinson pleaded guilty in March 2020 before County Court Judge Gerald Keene, in Tioga County, to second-degree robbery, second-degree criminal use of a firearm, and fourth-degree grand larceny in the fourth degree.

In May 2023, Tioga County Court Judge Adam Schumacher denied Robinson’s 440 motion to vacate the conviction, without a hearing.

Robinson initially was indicted on charges of second-degree robbery, second-degree criminal use of a firearm, and fourth-degree grand larceny. He agreed to plead guilty to those charges, with the condition that he would be sentenced to a total of nine years in prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision, and he would be enrolled in the comprehensive alcohol and substance abuse treatment (CASAT) program.

Robinson was sentenced as a second felony offender, to concurrent sentences that amounted to nine years in prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision.

The judge also directed that Robinson be enrolled in CASAT.

Robinson filed a pro se motion to vacate the judgment of conviction claiming insufficient notice to appear before the grand jury, involuntary plea and ineffective assistance of counsel.

The motion was denied without a hearing and Robinson appealed to the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Third Department.

“Initially, by failing to move to dismiss the indictment on these grounds, defendant has waived his claims on direct appeal that he was deprived of his statutory right to testify before the grand jury, that he was denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial, and that certain counts in the indictment were multiplicitous,” Justice Molly Reynolds Fitzgerald wrote for the Third Department panel.

“As to his claim … of ineffective assistance of counsel premised on defense counsel’s failure to afford him an opportunity to testify before the grand jury or move to dismiss the indictment on this ground, even assuming, without deciding, that defendant could demonstrate an absence of strategic or legitimate reasons for failing to do so, he has not demonstrated that the outcome of the proceeding would have been different had he testified,” she wrote.

Although Robinson argued in his motion that his attorney counsel was ineffective for failing to move to dismiss the indictment on speedy trial grounds, that claim was not supported by any evidence, and the County Court judge properly determined that no hearing was required,” she wrote.

“We reject defendant’s contention that County Court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the indictment based upon insufficient grand jury instructions,” she wrote.

The court’s review of the grand jury minutes showed that the prosecution properly instructed the grand jury on the crimes charged, the court ruled.

Robinson also argued that his plea must be vacated because, as part of the plea agreement, County Court promised to order him to be enrolled in CASAT, a promise that could not be fulfilled because CASAT is only available to individuals convicted of drug-related offenses.

“We agree,” Reynolds Fitzgerald wrote.

“A guilty plea induced by an unfulfilled promise either must be vacated or the promise honored,” she wrote.

Robinson was not enrolled in CASAT because he was not statutorily eligible for the program, so the promise could not be honored, the court found.

“Moreover, the record reflects that the mandate for CASAT enrollment was ‘part and parcel of defendant’s plea agreement,’” she wrote.

“Thus, defendant is entitled to vacatur of his guilty plea,” she wrote.

The conviction was reversed and the case was sent back to Tioga County Court.

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