People v. Michael

120 A.D.3d 713, 990 N.Y.S.2d 879, 2014 NY Slip Op 05899, 2014 WL 4085859, 2014 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5839

Opinion

Appeal by the defendant, as limited by his motion, from a sentence of the County Court, Suffolk County (Braslow, J.), imposed February 26, 2013, upon his plea of guilty, on the ground that the sentence was excessive.

Ordered that the sentence is affirmed.

The defendant’s purported waiver of his right to appeal was invalid (see People v Lopez, 6 NY3d 248, 256 [2006]). The record does not demonstrate that the defendant “grasped the concept of the appeal waiver and the nature of the right he was forgoing” (People v Bradshaw, 18 NY3d 257, 267 [2011]; see People v Johnson, 113 AD3d 635, 635 [2014]). Therefore, notwithstanding the defendant’s execution of the written waiver form, it can not be said that he knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to appeal (see People v Pressley, 116 AD3d 794 [2014]). Accordingly, review of the defendant’s excessive sentence claim is not precluded.

Nevertheless, the sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v Suitte, 90 AD2d 80 [1982]).

Eng, EJ., Dillon, Lott, Sgroi and Maltese, JJ., concur.