Facts Admitted In Guilty Plea Have Subsequently Been Found Insufficient to Constitute the Offense (Possession of Child Pornography)—Yet Vacation of the Conviction Not Warranted

The Third Department determined the fact that judicial interpretation of the law had changed since defendant’s guilty plea did not provide a basis for vacation of the plea.  The defendant contended he merely viewed child pornography on his computer but did not download, print or save them, and he was unaware the images were stored by the computer’s cache function (relying upon People v Kent, 19 NY3d 290 [2012]):

“[A]bsent misrepresentation or other impermissible conduct by state agents, a voluntary plea of guilty intelligently made in the light of the then applicable law does not become vulnerable because later judicial decisions indicate that the plea rested on a faulty premise” … . Here, defendant’s guilty plea was unequivocal, and his motion papers failed to present any evidence that tends to establish that his plea was less than a knowing, voluntary and intelligent choice among the alternatives available to him at that time … . By his definitive admission of guilt, defendant thus waived his claim that the facts, as previously alleged by him, were not sufficient to establish the crime … . Accordingly, we find that County Court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant’s motion without a hearing. People v Mauro, 2014 NY Slip Op 02470, 3rd Dept 4-10-14