People v. Romero

Summary

The New York Appellate Division, Third Department affirmed Luis Romero's judgment of conviction for rape in the third degree following his guilty plea. The court held that his combined oral and written waivers of indictment and appeal were knowing, voluntary, and intelligent, and that his challenges to the superior court information and plea voluntariness were either unpreserved or meritless. The court also concluded that the superior court information sufficiently charged the same crime or a lesser included offense of the crime specified in the felony complaint.

Holdings

1. The waiver of indictment was knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently entered and was not jurisdictionally defective because the totality of the circumstances established that defendant understood the indictment waiver and appeal waiver were separate rights.
2. The challenge to the factual allegations in the superior court information was unpreserved because it did not allege a nonwaivable jurisdictional defect, and the guilty plea forfeited the claim.
3. The superior court information was permissible because it charged the same crime as the felony complaint, and the offense date in the felony complaint matched the date stated in the indictment waiver and superior court information.
4. The challenge to the voluntariness of the guilty plea was unpreserved because defendant did not make the required postallocution motion before sentencing, and no exception to the preservation requirement applied.

Questions Presented

1. Whether defendant's waiver of indictment was jurisdictionally defective because the written waiver document also addressed his waiver of the right to appeal.
2. Whether the superior court information was jurisdictionally defective because it alleged a crime occurring on dates different from those associated with defendant's arrest and arraignment.
3. Whether defendant's challenge to the voluntariness of his guilty plea was preserved for appellate review.

Disposition

affirmed