| People v Michael |
| 2014 NY Slip Op 05899 [120 AD3d 713] |
| August 20, 2014 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Robert Michael, Appellant. |
Robert C. Mitchell, Riverhead, N.Y. (Kirk R. Brandt of counsel), for appellant.
Thomas J. Spota, District Attorney, Riverhead, N.Y. (Marcia R. Kucera of counsel),for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant, as limited by his motion, from a sentence of the CountyCourt, Suffolk County (Braslow, J.), imposed February 26, 2013, upon his plea of guilty,on the ground that the sentence was excessive.
Ordered that the sentence is affirmed.
The defendant's purported waiver of his right to appeal was invalid (see People v Lopez, 6 NY3d248, 256 [2006]). The record does not demonstrate that the defendant "grasped theconcept of the appeal waiver and the nature of the right he was forgoing" (People v Bradshaw, 18 NY3d257, 267 [2011]; see Peoplev Johnson, 113 AD3d 635, 635 [2014]). Therefore, notwithstanding thedefendant's execution of the written waiver form, it cannot be said that he knowingly,intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to appeal (see People v Pressley, 116AD3d 794 [2014]). Accordingly, review of the defendant's excessive sentence claimis not precluded.
Nevertheless, the sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v Suitte,90 AD2d 80 [1982]). Eng, P.J., Dillon, Lott, Sgroi and Maltese, JJ., concur.