Plea Colloquy Raised Concerns Requiring Further Inquiry Re: Defendant’s Mental Health

The Second Department determined that defendant’s plea colloquy raised concern about defendant’s mental health requiring inquiry by the sentencing court:

Here, in light of the defendant’s known history of mental illness, and the finding within six days after commission of the instant sex offense that the defendant was suffering from psychotic symptoms attributable to bipolar disorder, for which he required hospitalization, certain statements made during the defendant’s plea allocution—specifically, statements regarding the complainant’s impression that, at the time of incident, the defendant was “very very much mentally unwell”—“signaled that [the defendant] may have been suffering from a mental disease or defect” when the offense was committed, thereby triggering the Supreme Court’s duty to inquire…. The trial court’s failure to conduct any inquiry as to a potential affirmative defense to the charges based upon mental disease or defect (see Penal Law 40.15), requires vacatur of the defendant’s plea of guilty…. While the People are correct that the defendant’s argument is unpreserved for appellate review, preservation is not required where, as here, under the totality of the circumstances, the defendant’s guilt and the voluntariness of the plea were called into question before the court….  People v Grason, 2013 NY Slip Op 04827, 2nd Dept 6-26-13