| People v Kyra J. |
| 2020 NY Slip Op 01183 [180 AD3d 929] |
| February 19, 2020 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Kyra J., Appellant. |
Paul Skip Laisure, New York, NY (Sean H. Murray of counsel), for appellant.
Eric Gonzalez, District Attorney, Brooklyn, NY (Leonard Joblove and Jean M. Joyceof counsel; Luc B. Walkington on the memorandum), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant, as limited by her motion, from a sentence of the SupremeCourt, Kings County (John T. Hecht, J.), imposed September 7, 2017, upon her plea ofguilty, on the ground that the sentence was excessive.
Ordered that the sentence is affirmed.
The defendant's purported waiver of her right to appeal was invalid, as the SupremeCourt mischaracterized the nature of the waiver by stating, inter alia, that "no lawyer willbe appointed to pursue an appeal for you; no higher Court will review the proceedings,they will become final upon sentence" (see People v Green, 34 NY3d545, 564-567 [2019] [companion case to People vThomas, 34 NY3d 545 (2019)]). Where, ashere, "a trial court has utterly mischaracterized the nature of the right a defendant wasbeing asked to cede, an appellate court cannot be certain that the defendantcomprehended the nature of the waiver of appellate rights" (34 NY3d at 565-566 [internal quotation marks omitted]). Thus, the purportedwaiver of the right to appeal does not preclude this Court's review of the defendant'sexcessive sentence claim (seePeople v Fuller, 163 AD3d 715, 715 [2018]). However, the sentence imposedwas not excessive (see People v Suitte, 90 AD2d 80 [1982]). Balkin, J.P.,Chambers, Cohen, Connolly and Wooten, JJ., concur.