People v De La Rosa
2017 NY Slip Op 01882 [148 AD3d 927]
March 15, 2017
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, May 3, 2017


[*1]
 The People of the State of New York,Respondent,
v
Ana De La Rosa, Appellant.

Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, NY (Lisa Napoli of counsel), for appellant.

Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, NY (John M. Castellano, JohnnetteTraill, and Merri Turk Lasky of counsel; Jacob Wells on the memorandum), for respondent.

Appeal by the defendant, as limited by her motion, from a sentence of the Supreme Court,Queens County (Buchter, J.), imposed September 4, 2012, upon her plea of guilty, on the groundthat the sentence was excessive.

Ordered that the sentence is affirmed.

The defendant's purported waiver of her right to appeal was invalid, as the record fails toestablish that she knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waived her right to appeal (see People v Bradshaw, 18 NY3d257, 272-273 [2011]; People vLopez, 6 NY3d 248, 256 [2006]; People v Cuevas-Alcantara, 136 AD3d 650 [2016]; People v Little, 127 AD3d 1235[2015]; People v Quezada, 122AD3d 948 [2014]). "An appeal waiver is not valid unless the defendant's understanding ofthe waiver is evident on the face of the record" (People v Little, 127 AD3d at 1235;see People v Bradshaw, 18 NY3d at 264-265). The record does not demonstrate that thedefendant understood the nature of the right to appeal and the consequences of waiving it (seePeople v Cuevas-Alcantara, 136 AD3d at 650; People v Cantarero, 123 AD3d 841, 842 [2014]). Moreover, thedefendant's execution of a written waiver " 'is not a complete substitute for anon-the-record explanation of the nature of the right to appeal, and some acknowledgment that thedefendant is voluntarily giving up that right' " (People v Cuevas-Alcantara, 136AD3d at 650, quoting People vBradshaw, 76 AD3d 566, 569 [2010]; see People v Brown, 122 AD3d 133 [2014]).

Nevertheless, contrary to the defendant's contention, the sentence imposed was not excessive(see People v Suitte, 90 AD2d 80 [1982]). Eng, P.J., Dillon, Sgroi, Miller and BrathwaiteNelson, JJ., concur.


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