| People v Mungin |
| 2020 NY Slip Op 03543 [184 AD3d 877] |
| June 24, 2020 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Brandon Mungin, Appellant. |
Paul Skip Laisure, New York, NY (Hannah Zhao of counsel), for appellant.
Eric Gonzalez, District Attorney, Brooklyn, NY (Leonard Joblove and Diane R. Eisner ofcounsel; Isaac Belenkiy on the memorandum), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant, as limited by his motion, from a sentence of the Supreme Court,Kings County (Deborah A. Dowling, J.), imposed October 24, 2017, upon his plea of guilty, onthe ground that the sentence was excessive.
Ordered that the sentence is affirmed.
The defendant's purported waiver of his right to appeal was invalid, as the Supreme Courtmischaracterized the nature of the waiver by stating, inter alia, that the defendant "would nothave a right to challenge [his] sentence or conviction" (see People v Thomas, 34 NY3d 545, 564-566 [2019]). Where, ashere, "a trial court has utterly mischaracterized the nature of the right a defendant was beingasked to cede, an appellate court cannot be certain that the defendant comprehended the nature ofthe waiver of appellate rights" (id. at 565-566 [internal quotation marks omitted]). Thus,the purported waiver of the right to appeal does not preclude this Court's review of thedefendant's excessive sentence claim (see People v Fuller, 163 AD3d 715, 715 [2018]).
Nevertheless, the sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v Suitte, 90 AD2d80 [1982]). Dillon, J.P., Austin, Roman, Hinds-Radix and Christopher, JJ., concur.