People v Martinez
2015 NY Slip Op 05709 [130 AD3d 1087]
July 2, 2015
Appellate Division, Third Department
As corrected through Wednesday, September 2, 2015


[*1]
 The People of the State of New York,Respondent,
v
Rey Martinez, Appellant.

James P. Milstein, Public Defender (Theresa M. Suozzi of counsel), forappellant.

P. David Soares, District Attorney, Albany (Vincent Stark of counsel), forrespondent.

Garry, J.P. Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Teresi, J.), enteredJanuary 22, 2013 in Albany County, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of thecrime of attempted assault in the second degree.

Defendant waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a charge contained in a superiorcourt information of attempted assault in the second degree and waived his right toappeal in a written waiver as part of the plea allocution and pursuant to a negotiated pleaagreement. The charges stem from an incident in which defendant intentionally cut thevictim with a butcher knife. He was sentenced as a second felony offender to theagreed-upon prison term of 11/2 to 3 years, and now appeals.

Initially, defendant's challenge to his waiver of appeal as not knowing, voluntary orintelligent lacks merit, as the plea colloquy reflects that Supreme Court made clear itsseparate and distinct nature, and confirmed that defendant had read the written waiver ofappeal before signing it and after discussing it with counsel (see People v Lopez, 6 NY3d248, 256 [2006]; People vGuyette, 121 AD3d 1430, 1430-1431 [2014]). Given the valid waiver of appeal,defendant is precluded from challenging his negotiated sentence as harsh and excessive(see People v Lopez, 6 NY3d at 256). Although defendant's challenge to thevoluntariness of his plea survives his appeal waiver (see People v Seaberg, 74NY2d 1, 10 [1989]), this issue is unpreserved for our review as the record does notreflect that he made an appropriate postallocution motion, and the exception to thepreservation requirement is inapplicable (see People v Lopez, 71 NY2d 662,665-666 [1988]; People vBalbuena, 123 AD3d 1384, 1385 [2014]).

[*2] With regard to defendant's argument that he should nothave been sentenced as a second felony offender, it implicates the legality of the sentenceand is not precluded by his appeal waiver (see People v Parker, 121 AD3d 1190, 1190 [2014]).Moreover, to the extent that defendant contends that the unlawfulness of his sentence isclear on the face of the record, it may be raised for the first time on appeal (see People v Santiago, 22NY3d 900, 903 [2013]; People v Samms, 95 NY2d 52, 57 [2000]). Asrelevant here, to impose a second felony offender sentence, Supreme Court was requiredto find that defendant had been convicted of a felony for which a sentence of over oneyear was authorized, the sentence on the predicate conviction must have been imposedbefore he committed the present felony, and the predicate sentence must have beenimposed not more than 10 years before commission of the present felony, excludingperiods in which he was incarcerated for any reason (see Penal Law§ 70.06 [1] [b] [i-v]). The People submitted a predicate statement,presentence report and other documentary evidence establishing that defendant had beensentenced to 31/2 years in prison for a felony conviction, whichcommenced on November 30, 1999; he was released on parole on September 5, 2002 andthereafter violated parole and served additional prison time in 2005 to 2006 and again in2008, and committed the instant offense on October 27, 2012. Defendant admitted theprior offense, and the foregoing proof was sufficient to "establish that defendant hadbeen convicted of a felony offense within the relevant [10-year] period as tolled by [the]intervening period[s] of incarceration" (People v Ellis, 60 AD3d 1197, 1198 [2009]; see People v Caldwell, 80AD3d 998, 999 [2011], lv denied 16 NY3d 857 [2011]). Defendant offeredno support for his contention that his parole violations and resulting periods ofincarceration were invalid, nor did he request a further opportunity to contest theallegations (see CPL 400.21). Any such claims were not preserved for our reviewby an objection at sentencing (see People v House, 119 AD3d 1289, 1290 [2014]).

Rose, Devine and Clark, JJ., concur. Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.


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