Summary
This Appellate Division, First Department slip opinion affirms the defendant's conviction and sentence for attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree following a guilty plea. The court held that the trial court failed to properly advise the defendant regarding his waiver of the right to appeal, rendering it invalid. However, the appellate court found the defendant lacked standing to raise Second Amendment challenges due to not applying for a gun license, and deemed other statutory and indictment challenges either unpreserved or moot. Consequently, the lower court's judgment was unanimously affirmed.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Watts' waiver of his right to appeal was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary.
- Whether Watts has standing to assert Second Amendment claims without having applied for a gun license.
- Whether Watts preserved challenges to Penal Law § 400.00(1) and § 265.02(8) for appellate review.
Holdings
- The waiver was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary; therefore the appellate right was not waived.
- Watts lacks standing to raise Second Amendment claims because he did not apply for a gun license.
- The challenges were unpreserved and therefore not reviewed; the challenge to the ammunition‑feeding device provision is moot because Watts was not convicted on that count.
Key quotations
“Defendant's waiver of his right to appeal was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. The court failed to provide an explanation of the "nature of the waiver, the rights the defendant would be waiving, or that the right to appeal was separate and distinct from the rights automatically forfeited upon a plea of guilty".” (start)
Factual background
Kendall Watts pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and was sentenced to a 364‑day jail term, later resented to run concurrently with a separate sentence. He later claimed his waiver of the right to appeal was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary, and raised Second Amendment and other statutory challenges.
Procedural history
The Supreme Court, Bronx County convicted Watts of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, sentenced him to 364 days, and affirmed the sentence on resentence. Watts appealed, asserting waiver and constitutional claims. The Appellate Division reviewed the waiver, standing, and preservation issues.