| People v Fernandez |
| 2019 NY Slip Op 00459 [168 AD3d 973] |
| January 23, 2019 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Edwin Fernandez, Appellant. |
Janet E. Sabel, New York, NY (Justine M. Luongo and Ronald Alfano of counsel), forappellant.
Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, NY (John M. Castellano, JohnnetteTraill, and William H. Branigan of counsel; Victoria Randall on the memorandum), forrespondent.
Appeal by the defendant, as limited by his motion, from a sentence of the Supreme Court,Queens County (Michael Aloise, J.), imposed November 15, 2016, upon his plea of guilty, on theground that the sentence was excessive.
Ordered that the sentence is affirmed.
The defendant's purported waiver of his right to appeal was invalid and does not precludereview of his excessive sentence claim. The Supreme Court's terse colloquy failed to advise thedefendant of the nature of the right to appeal and to ensure that the defendant grasped the conceptof the appeal waiver and the nature of the right he was forgoing (see People v Bradshaw, 18 NY3d257, 267 [2011]; People vLopez, 6 NY3d 248, 255 [2006]; People v Vasquez, 101 AD3d 1054, 1054-1055 [2012]). Further,although the defendant signed a written waiver of his right to appeal, the court did not ascertainon the record whether the defendant read the written waiver or was aware of its contents (see People v Bratton, 165 AD3d693, 693 [2018]).
However, the sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v Suitte, 90 AD2d 80[1982]). Rivera, J.P., Hinds-Radix, Brathwaite Nelson and Iannacci, JJ., concur.