| People v Simpson |
| 2020 NY Slip Op 03255 [184 AD3d 677] |
| June 10, 2020 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Tanesha Simpson, Appellant. |
Paul Skip Laisure, New York, NY (Samuel Barr of counsel), for appellant.
Melinda Katz, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, NY (Johnnette Traill and Roni C. Piplani ofcounsel; Eleanor Reilly on the memorandum), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant, as limited by her motion, from a sentence of the Supreme Court,Queens County (Suzanne J. Melendez, J., at plea; Toko Serita, J., at sentence), imposed June 21,2018, upon her plea of guilty, on the ground that the sentence was excessive.
Ordered that the sentence is affirmed.
The defendant's purported waiver of the right to appeal was invalid and, thus, does notpreclude appellate review of her excessive sentence claim (see People v Evans, 169 AD3d 824, 824-825 [2019]). The SupremeCourt conflated the waiver of the right to appeal with the defendant's waiver of her right to a trialby pleading guilty, and failed to confirm that she understood the nature of the right to appeal andthe consequences of waiving it (seePeople v Batista, 167 AD3d 69, 76 [2018]; People v Brown, 122 AD3d 133, 137-138 [2014]). Further, thecourt mischaracterized the nature of the appellate rights the defendant was being asked to waive(see People v Thomas, 34 NY3d545 [2019]). However, the sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v Suitte,90 AD2d 80 [1982]). Balkin, J.P., Chambers, Cohen, Connolly and Wooten, JJ., concur.