| People v Tellado |
| 2020 NY Slip Op 01938 [181 AD3d 830] |
| March 18, 2020 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Luis Tellado, Appellant. |
Janet E. Sabel, New York, NY (Iván Pantoja of counsel), for appellant.
Eric Gonzalez, District Attorney, Brooklyn, NY (Leonard Joblove and CamilleO'Hara Gillespie of counsel; Marielle Burnett on the memorandum), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant, as limited by his motion, from a sentence of the SupremeCourt, Kings County (Vincent M. Del Giudice, J.), imposed May 3, 2018, upon his pleaof guilty, on the ground that the sentence was excessive.
Ordered that the sentence is affirmed.
The defendant's purported waiver of his right to appeal was invalid (see People vThomas, 34 NY3d 545 [2019]). The SupremeCourt stated to the defendant that his waiver of the right to appeal meant that "no one[was] going to give [him] an attorney transcript [sic], or any help whatsoever, to appeal,"and "[n]o judge or group of judges is going to review anything I have done or any otherjudge might have done in this case." These statements "utterly 'mischaracterized thenature of the right a defendant was being asked to cede' " (People vThomas, 34 NY3d at 565, quoting People v Lopez, 6 NY3d248, 257 [2006]), and incorrectly suggested that the waiver may be an absolute barto the taking of an appeal (see People v Thomas, 34 NY3d at 562-564). The written waiver form did not overcome the ambiguitiesin the court's explanation of the right to appeal, as it did not contain clarifying languagethat appellate review remained available for select issues, and, in any event, the courtfailed to confirm that the defendant understood the content of the written waiver (seePeople v Thomas, 34 NY3d at 564-568). Thus,the purported waiver does not preclude appellate review of the defendant's excessivesentence claim.
However, the sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v Suitte, 90AD2d 80 [1982]). Rivera, J.P., Maltese, Barros, Brathwaite Nelson and Iannacci, JJ.,concur.