Section 340.20. The plea  


Latest version.
  • 1.    Except as provided in subdivisions two and three, the provisions
      of  article  two  hundred  twenty,  governing  the  kinds  of  pleas  to
      indictments which may be entered and related matters, are, to the extent
      that  they  can  be so applied, applicable to pleas to informations, and
      changes of pleas thereto, in local criminal courts.
        2.  A plea to an information, other than one  against  a  corporation,
      must be entered in the following manner:
        (a)    Subject  to  the  provisions  of  paragraph  (b),  a plea to an
      information must be entered orally by the defendant in person unless the
      court permits entry thereof by counsel upon  the  filing  by  him  of  a
      written  and  subscribed  statement  by  the defendant declaring that he
      waives his right to plead to the information in person  and  authorizing
      his  attorney  to  enter  a  plea  on  his  behalf  as  set forth in the
      authorization.
        (b)  If the only offense or offenses charged are traffic  infractions,
      the  procedure  provided  in  sections  eighteen  hundred five, eighteen
      hundred six and eighteen hundred seven of the vehicle and  traffic  law,
      relating  to  pleas  in such cases, is, when appropriate, applicable and
      controlling.
        3.  A plea to an information against a corporation must be entered  by
      counsel.
        4. When a sentence is agreed upon by the prosecutor and a defendant as
      a  predicate  to  entry of a plea of guilty, the court or the prosecutor
      must orally on the record, or in writing filed with the court, state the
      sentence agreed upon as a condition of such plea.