People v Moorer
2009 NY Slip Op 04518 [63 AD3d 1590]
June 5, 2009
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
As corrected through Wednesday, August 5, 2009


The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Robert C.Moorer, Appellant.

[*1]Timothy P. Donaher, Public Defender, Rochester (Kimberly F. Duguay of counsel), fordefendant-appellant.

Michael C. Green, District Attorney, Rochester (Nancy A. Gilligan of counsel), forrespondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Monroe County (Elma A. Bellini, A.J.),rendered October 26, 2005. The judgment convicted defendant, upon his plea of guilty, ofcriminal contempt in the first degree.

It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.

Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him upon his plea of guilty ofcriminal contempt in the first degree (Penal Law § 215.51 [b] [v]). We agree withdefendant that his waiver of the right to appeal is invalid inasmuch as the record does not"establish that [he] understood that the right to appeal is separate and distinct from those rightsautomatically forfeited upon a plea of guilty" (People v Lopez, 6 NY3d 248, 256 [2006]; see People v Moyett, 7 NY3d 892,893 [2006]). Nevertheless, defendant failed to move to withdraw his plea or to vacate thejudgment of conviction and thus failed to preserve for our review his challenge to the factualsufficiency of the plea allocution (see People v Lopez, 71 NY2d 662, 665 [1988]). Wefurther reject the contention of defendant that his recitation of the facts underlying the crime cast"significant doubt upon [his] guilt or otherwise call[ed] into question the voluntariness of theplea" (id. at 666). In any event, the record establishes that Supreme Court made a furtherinquiry to ensure that defendant's plea was knowing and voluntary (see id.; People v Hinkson, 59 AD3d 941[2009]). Finally, defendant's bargained-for sentence is not unduly harsh or severe.Present—Scudder, P.J., Hurlbutt, Peradotto, Green and Gorski, JJ.


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