People v Suarez
2013 NY Slip Op 06304 [110 AD3d 420]
October 1, 2013
Appellate Division, First Department
As corrected through Wednesday, November 27, 2013


The People of the State of New York,Respondent,
v
Santos Suarez, Appellant.

[*1]Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Mark W. Zeno ofcounsel), for appellant.

Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Peter D. Coddington of counsel), forrespondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Darcel D. Clark, J.), rendered May 22,2009, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of manslaughter in the first degree,and sentencing him to a term of 15 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant made a valid waiver of his right to appeal, both orally and in writing (see People v Lopez, 6 NY3d 248 [2006]), and we haveconsidered and rejected defendant's arguments to the contrary. Accordingly, review ofdefendant's constitutional challenge to his continued prosecution for first-degreemanslaughter following the reversal of his depraved-indifference murder conviction (10NY3d 523 [2008]) is foreclosed by the waiver (see People v Muniz, 91NY2d 570 [1998]).

In addition to being waived, the issue of whether it was constitutionally permissible,under the circumstances of this case, to reprosecute defendant for intentionalmanslaughter was resolved, on the merits, by the Court of Appeals in connection withdefendant's CPLR article 78 proceeding (Matter of Suarez v Byrne, 10 NY3d523 [2008]). Accordingly, defendant's present claim is barred by the doctrine of resjudicata (see People v Di Raffaele, 55 NY2d 234, 243 [1982]). To the extentdefendant is making new arguments on the issue of reprosecution, they should have beenaddressed to the Court of Appeals. Moreover, in addition to being foreclosed [*2]by defendant's appeal waiver, these new arguments areunpreserved and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. As an alternativeholding, we also reject them on the merits. Concur—Friedman, J.P., Moskowitz,Richter, Manzanet-Daniels and Gische, JJ.


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