yesterday when the defendant said he wanted to change a guilty plea made months ago.

Dennis Robinson asked for permission from the New York court to retract a guilty plea he made back in March, on charges associated with an attempt to smuggle cocaine into the US.

He won the right to argue his case next month. His co-defendant and girlfriend, Bermuda Customs Officer Betty Azzario, had also pleaded guilty to importation charges and her sentencing was postponed.

Appearing on Friday in federal court in Brooklyn, Dennis Robinson sought permission from US District Judge Carol Amon to replace his attorney and change the plea to innocent.

Amon agreed to let Robinson hire a new attorney to argue for the plea change -- they are rarely granted -- at a hearing on Sept. 12. The defendant indicated that he would claim he was poorly represented in March when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute narcotics.

Robinson, who is in custody in Brooklyn, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, although prosecutors had said at the time of his plea he would likely have received five years or less if sentenced on Friday as scheduled.

Sentencing for Robinson's codefendant, Betty Azzario, also was postponed until the matter is resolved.

Robinson, 29, was arrested last year with the help of Azzario, a former Bermuda customs agent.

Based on a tip from Bermuda authorities, U.S. Customs and Drug Enforcement Administration agents caught Azzario at Kennedy Airport last December boarding a Bermuda-bound flight with a package containing 1.6 kilograms (3.5 pounds) of cocaine.

Azzario, 34, had sought to deflect detection by putting Bermudian Customs labeling on the package and carrying a phony document saying she was on a training exercise, authorities said. She tried to claim the drugs were fake before confessing and identifying Robinson as her accomplice. Authorities said Azzario agreed to participate in a sting operation in which she called him at a Manhattan hotel and convinced him he should be the one to sneak the drugs back to Bermuda. She then delivered the package to him in the lobby, where he was arrested.

Azzario later pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, hoping to receive a lighter sentence for cooperating with investigators.

BERMUDIAN BDA