People v. Serrano

In People v. Serrano, 15 NY2d 304, the Court of Appeals overturned a Murder 2 conviction (based upon a plea) where the defendant's version of the offense underlying his conviction, as brought out during his plea allocution, was " . . . more consonant with the lesser charge of manslaughter in the first degree, that is, a killing in the heat of passion." Id. at 307 . According to the Serrano court, under such circumstances it was the duty of the sentencing judge " . . . to refuse the plea and order the trial continued or, more appropriately, to advise the defendant that his admission did not necessarily establish guilt of the crime to which he was pleading and to question him further both with regard to his story of the crime and as to the possible disposition of his request to change his plea. Of course, once so advised that his version of the crime is not consistent with the charge to which he is pleading, a defendant might still wish to plead guilty, perhaps to avoid the risk of conviction upon a trial of the more serious crime charge in the indictment, and such a plea could be accepted by the court." Id. at 309-310.