Summary
This Appellate Division, Fourth Department decision affirms the defendant's convictions for criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third and fourth degrees following guilty pleas. The court addresses the defendant's challenges to the severity of his sentences, concluding that the oral plea colloquy and written waiver adequately ensured the appeal waiver was made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. Consequently, the valid waiver forecloses any further challenge to the sentence severity.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the oral colloquy and written waiver constituted a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of the right to appeal
- Whether such a waiver forecloses a challenge to the severity of the sentence
Holdings
- The oral colloquy together with the written waiver was adequate to ensure that the defendant's waiver of the right to appeal was made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily.
- A valid waiver forecloses the defendant's challenge to the severity of the sentence.
Key quotations
“the record establishes that the oral colloquy, together with the written waiver of the right to appeal, was adequate to ensure that defendant's waiver of the right to appeal was made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily”
Factual background
The record shows that defendant entered guilty pleas to possession of a controlled substance in the fourth and third degrees. The oral colloquy and written waiver of the right to appeal were part of the plea proceeding.
Procedural history
The judgment was entered by Livingston County Court on August 15, 2023. Defendant entered guilty pleas to Penal Law §§ 220.09 and 220.16. The appeal challenges the adequacy of the waiver of the right to appeal.