People v. Franco

2017 NY Slip Op 8094, 155 A.D.3d 484, 63 N.Y.S.3d 858

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: November 16, 2017
• Docket: 4981 2606/14
• Status: Published

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Ruth Pickholz, J. at suppression hearing; Bonnie G. Wittner, J. at plea and sentencing), rendered November 2, 2015, convicting defendant of assault in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 3V2 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant made a valid waiver of his right to appeal, which forecloses his suppression and excessive sentence claims. Although the oral colloquy was brief, it separated the right to appeal from the rights automatically given up by pleading guilty, and, when taken together with a comprehensive written waiver, the colloquy satisfied the requirements for a valid waiver (see People v Bryant, 28 NY3d 1094 [2016]).

Regardless of whether defendant made a valid waiver, we find that the hearing court properly denied defendant’s suppression motion, and that defendant’s arguments concerning the conduct of the hearing and the court’s discretionary decision to grant the People’s reargument motion do not warrant reversal. We also perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.

Concur—Renwick, J.P., Manzanet-Daniels, Andrias, Kern and Oing, JJ.