Opinion
1035 KA 20-00249
12-23-2021
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Travis CARTER, Defendant-Appellant.
CHRISTINE M. COOK, SYRACUSE, FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. WILLIAM J. FITZPATRICK, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SYRACUSE (KENNETH H. TYLER, JR., OF COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT.
CHRISTINE M. COOK, SYRACUSE, FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.
WILLIAM J. FITZPATRICK, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SYRACUSE (KENNETH H. TYLER, JR., OF COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT.
PRESENT: SMITH, J.P., CARNI, NEMOYER, CURRAN, AND WINSLOW, JJ.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
It is hereby ORDERED that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum: On appeal from a judgment convicting him upon a plea of guilty of grand larceny in the third degree ( Penal Law § 155.35 [1] ), defendant contends that the sentence imposed is unduly harsh and severe and that the waiver of the right to appeal does not foreclose his challenge to the severity of the sentence. We agree with defendant that he did not validly waive his right to appeal "because County Court's oral colloquy utterly mischaracterized the nature of the right to appeal ..., inasmuch as the court's advisement as to the rights relinquished [and retained by defendant] was incorrect and irredeemable under the circumstances" ( People v. Crogan , 181 A.D.3d 1212, 1212, 118 N.Y.S.3d 484 [4th Dept. 2020], lv denied 35 N.Y.3d 1026, 126 N.Y.S.3d 31, 149 N.E.3d 869 [2020] [internal quotation marks omitted]; see People v. Thomas , 34 N.Y.3d 545, 562, 565, 122 N.Y.S.3d 226, 144 N.E.3d 970 [2019], cert denied ––– U.S. ––––, 140 S. Ct. 2634, 206 L.Ed.2d 512 [2020] ; People v. Wiggins , 196 A.D.3d 1067, 1067-1068, 147 N.Y.S.3d 494 [4th Dept. 2021] ). We nevertheless perceive no basis in the record for the exercise of our authority to reduce the sentence as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice (see CPL 470.15 [6] [b] ).