People v Rivera
2020 NY Slip Op 01934 [181 AD3d 825]
March 18, 2020
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, April 29, 2020


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

Paul Skip Laisure, New York, NY (David P. Greenberg of counsel), forappellant.

Melinda Katz, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, NY (John M. Castellano, JohnnetteTraill, and Ellen C. Abbot of counsel; Eleanor Reilly on the memorandum), forrespondent.

Appeal by the defendant, as limited by his motion, from a sentence of the SupremeCourt, Queens County (Gregory Lasak, J., at plea; Joseph A. Zayas, J., at sentence),imposed October 2, 2018, upon his plea of guilty, on the ground that the sentence wasexcessive.

Ordered that the sentence is affirmed.

The defendant's purported waiver of his right to appeal was invalid on the groundsthat the Supreme Court advised the defendant that by virtue of the waiver, he was"foreclosed forever from complaining about any errors that may have occurred during thecourse of this proceeding" (see People v Thomas, — NY3d &mdash, 2019NY Slip Op 08545 [2019]), and conflated the right to appeal with the rightsautomatically forfeited by a plea of guilty (see People v Lopez, 6 NY3d 248, 257 [2006]).

However, the sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v Suitte, 90AD2d 80 [1982]). Dillon, J.P., Austin, Roman, Hinds-Radix and Christopher, JJ.,concur.


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