People v. Rivera

2020 NY Slip Op 1934, 181 A.D.3d 825, 118 N.Y.S.3d 419

Opinion

People v Rivera (2020 NY Slip Op 01934)

People v Rivera

2020 NY Slip Op 01934

Decided on March 18, 2020

Appellate Division, Second Department

Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on March 18, 2020 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department
MARK C. DILLON, J.P.
LEONARD B. AUSTIN
SHERI S. ROMAN
SYLVIA O. HINDS-RADIX
LINDA CHRISTOPHER, JJ.

2018-12402
(Ind. No. 581/16)

[*1]The People of the State of New York, respondent,

v

Marcos Rivera, appellant.

Paul Skip Laisure, New York, NY (David P. Greenberg of counsel), for appellant.

Melinda Katz, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, NY (John M. Castellano, Johnnette Traill, and Ellen C. Abbot of counsel; Eleanor Reilly on the memorandum), for respondent.

DECISION & ORDER

Appeal by the defendant, as limited by his motion, from a sentence of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Gregory Lasak, J., at plea; Joseph A. Zayas, J., at sentence), imposed October 2, 2018, 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 on the grounds that the Supreme Court advised the defendant that by virtue of the waiver, he was "foreclosed forever from complaining about any errors that may have occurred during the course of this proceeding" (see People v Thomas, ____ NY3d ____, 2019 NY Slip Op 08545 [2019]), and conflated the right to appeal with the rights automatically forfeited by a plea of guilty (see People v Lopez, 6 NY3d 248, 257).

However, the sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v Suitte, 90 AD2d 80).

DILLON, J.P., AUSTIN, ROMAN, HINDS-RADIX and CHRISTOPHER, JJ., concur.

ENTER:

Aprilanne Agostino

Clerk of the Court