Criminal Defendant Unable to Change Plea of Guilty
Barry Zalma
Oct 23, 2023
Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gp-e_2m8 and see the full video at https://lnkd.in/g7ypJe-g and at https://lnkd.in/gYGMsRra and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 4600 posts.
Defendant Carlo Amato appealed from a March 24, 2022 order denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. In State Of New Jersey v. Carlo Amato, No. A-2788-21, Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division (October 10, 2023) dealt with the intent to withdraw Amato’s guilty plea.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
In October 2017, Amato was indicted by a Grand Jury for four counts of second-degree healthcare claim fraud; two counts of third-degree theft by deception; third-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance; five counts of second-degree theft by deception; second-degree insurance fraud; and two counts of first-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity. Two months later, defendant was charged with second-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity; second-degree theft by deception; and fourth degree making a false written statement. These additional charges stemmed from defendant allegedly filing false disability claims.
Following issuance of an arrest warrant and execution of a search warrant at defendant’s residence in December 2017, he was charged with second-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity and fourth-degree possession of a fictitious driver’s license prompting the State to move for his pretrial detention.
After the state multiplied the charges against Amato for multiple crimes, knowing he was guilty and had no chance of a defense verdict, in April 2018, Amato accepted a plea offer from the State to plead guilty to one count of first-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity and one count of second-degree theft by deception under Accusation, a small part of the charges in the indictments.
Before he entered his guilty pleas, the State outlined the terms of the plea offer on the record, stating that in exchange for defendant’s guilty pleas, it would: dismiss all other pending charges; allow defendant to exculpate his wife; recommend a ten-year prison term with a five-year parole disqualifier on the first-degree offense, to run consecutive to a flat five-year term on the second-degree theft charge; recommend that defendant’s aggregate sentence run concurrent to a sentence due to be imposed on his pending federal charges; and consent to delay defendant’s sentencing on state charges until after his sentencing on federal charges.
SECOND THOUGHTS
In April 2020 Amato moved to withdraw his guilty pleas to the two state charges, contending his reasonable sentence credit. Defendant argued he was denied effective assistance of counsel because plea counsel failed to advise him duplicate jail credits could not be awarded on his consecutive state sentences. Defendant certified that if plea counsel had advised him that he was not entitled to a duplicate award of 511 credits, he would not have accepted the plea offer from the State and would have insisted on going to trial.
THE TRIAL JUDGE
Additionally, the judge determined “[d]efendant received a host of benefits” when he accepted the State’s plea offer and none of those benefits “w[ere] affected by the number of jail credits awarded for his state sentences.” Therefore, he concluded there was no “reasonable likelihood [d]efendant would have insisted on going to trial, even if his claim that he was misadvised as to the award of jail credits had merit.”
When a motion to withdraw a guilty plea is filed after sentencing, a trial court may only vacate a guilty plea to correct a manifest injustice.
The judge properly denied defendant’s motion after finding the rules were followed at the time of defendant’s plea hearing. Here, the judge carefully considered the argument and not one of the proposed errors supported withdrawal of defendant’s pleas under the “manifest injustice” standard.
Under these circumstances, and aware the judge chose to – but was not obliged to – revisit defendant’s aggregate sentence before directing defendant’s state sentences to run concurrently, we perceive no reason to disturb the judge’s finding.
ZALMA OPINION
It is annoying to me, and to the trial and appellate court, when the state puts together a case to charge a person with fraud when the state provides an offer of a plea to lesser charges only to have the defendant, like Mr. Amato, to change his plea. If the judge agreed he could have forced Amato to trial and if convicted a much greater prison term or, what the court did here, was to deny the attempt to withdraw the appeal. People who commit insurance fraud and have no qualms, even after admitting to the crime, to try to get out of the jail sentence. Mr. Amato’s attempt failed.
(c) 2023 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.
Please tell your friends and colleagues about this blog and the videos and let them subscribe to the blog and the videos.
Subscribe to Excellence in Claims Handling at locals.com at https://zalmaoninsurance.locals.com/subscribe or at substack at https://barryzalma.substack.com/publish/post/107007808
Go to Newsbreak.com https://www.newsbreak.com/@c/1653419?s=01
Follow me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all...
Daily articles are published at https://zalma.substack.com.
Go to the podcast Zalma On Insurance at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/barry-zalma/support; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg; Go to the Insurance Claims Library – http://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-l
Please tell your friends and colleagues about this blog and the videos and let them subscribe to the blog and the videos. Subscribe to Excellence in Claims Handling at locals.com at https://lnkd.in/gfFKUaTf or at substack at https://lnkd.in/gcZKhG6g; Videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/zalma; Go to https://lnkd.in/g8azKc34;
The Insurance Claims Library – https://lnkd.in/gziTwddb
Detail Charging Defendant for Fraud is Sufficient
Post 5242
Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/g_HVw36q, see the video at https://lnkd.in/gpBd-XTg and at https://lnkd.in/gzCnBjgQ and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5200 posts.
Charges that Advises the Defendant of the Crime Cannot be Set Aside
In United States Of America v. Lourdes Navarro, AKA Lulu, No. 25-661, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (December 4, 2025) Lourdes Navarro appealed the district court’s denial of her motion to dismiss the indictment and enter final judgment was in error.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
The indictment alleged that insurers reimburse only for medically necessary services. Navarro performed unnecessary respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) tests on nasal swabs collected from asymptomatic individuals for COVID-19 screening.
Navarro billed over $455 million to insurers for those additional RPP tests that she knew to be medically unnecessary. These allegations constituted a plain, concise, and definite written ...
Louisiana Statute Prevents Enforcement of Contract Term Requiring Arbitration of Disputes
Post 5241
Read the full article at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/international-convention-requiring-enforcement-award-barry-sttdc, see the video at and at and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5200 posts.
In Town of Vinton v. Indian Harbor Insurance Company, Nos. 24-30035, 24-30748, 24-30749, 24-30750, 24-30751, 24-30756, 24-30757, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit (December 8, 2025) municipal entities including the Town of Vinton, et al sued domestic insurers after dismissing foreign insurers with prejudice. The insurers sought arbitration under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “Convention”) but the court held Louisiana law — prohibiting arbitration clauses in such policies—controls, as the Convention does not apply absent foreign parties who ...
Refusal to Provide Workers’ Compensation is Expensive
Post 5240
Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/guC9dnqA, see the video at https://lnkd.in/gVxz-qmk and at https://lnkd.in/gUTAnCZw, and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 5200 posts.
In Illinois Department of Insurance, Insurance Compliance Department v.USA Water And Fire Restoration, Inc., And Nicholas Pacella, Individually And As Officer, Nos. 23WC021808, 18INC00228, No. 25IWCC0467, the Illinois Department of Insurance (Petitioner) initiated an investigation after the Injured Workers’ Benefit Fund (IWBF) was added to a pending workers’ compensation claim. The claim alleged a work-related injury during employment with the Respondents who failed to maintain workers’ compensation Insurance.
Company Overview:
USA Water & Fire Restoration, Inc. was incorporated on January 17, 2014, and dissolved on June 14, 2019, for failure to file annual reports and pay franchise taxes. It then operated under assumed names including USA Board Up & Glass Co. and USA Plumbing and Sewer. The business ...
The Professional Claims Handler
Post 5219
Posted on October 31, 2025 by Barry Zalma
An Insurance claims professionals should be a person who:
Can read and understand the insurance policies issued by the insurer.
Understands the promises made by the policy.
Understand their obligation, as an insurer’s claims staff, to fulfill the promises made.
Are competent investigators.
Have empathy and recognize the difference between empathy and sympathy.
Understand medicine relating to traumatic injuries and are sufficiently versed in tort law to deal with lawyers as equals.
Understand how to repair damage to real and personal property and the value of the repairs or the property.
Understand how to negotiate a fair and reasonable settlement with the insured that is fair and reasonable to both the insured and the insurer.
How to Create Claims Professionals
To avoid fraudulent claims, claims of breach of contract, bad faith, punitive damages, unresolved losses, and to make a profit, insurers ...
The History Behind the Creation of a Claims Handling Expert
The Insurance Industry Needs to Implement Excellence in Claims Handling or Fail
Post 5210
This is a change from my normal blog postings. It is my attempt. in more than one post, to explain the need for professional claims representatives who comply with the basic custom and practice of the insurance industry. This statement of my philosophy on claims handling starts with my history as a claims adjuster, insurance defense and coverage lawyer and insurance claims handling expert.
My Training to be an Insurance Claims Adjuster
When I was discharged from the US Army in 1967 I was hired as an insurance adjuster trainee by a professional and well respected insurance company. The insurer took a chance on me because I had been an Army Intelligence Investigator for my three years in the military and could use that training and experience to be a basis to become a professional insurance adjuster.
I was initially sat at a desk reading a text-book on insurance ...
The History Behind the Creation of a Claims Handling Expert
The Insurance Industry Needs to Implement Excellence in Claims Handling or Fail
Post 5210
This is a change from my normal blog postings. It is my attempt. in more than one post, to explain the need for professional claims representatives who comply with the basic custom and practice of the insurance industry. This statement of my philosophy on claims handling starts with my history as a claims adjuster, insurance defense and coverage lawyer and insurance claims handling expert.
My Training to be an Insurance Claims Adjuster
When I was discharged from the US Army in 1967 I was hired as an insurance adjuster trainee by a professional and well respected insurance company. The insurer took a chance on me because I had been an Army Intelligence Investigator for my three years in the military and could use that training and experience to be a basis to become a professional insurance adjuster.
I was initially sat at a desk reading a text-book on insurance ...
