Opinion
No. 196 KA 20-00060
03-24-2023
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, RESPONDENT, v. LOUIS MCMORRIS, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.
ERIK TEIFKE, ACTING PUBLIC DEFENDER, ROCHESTER (TIMOTHY S. DAVIS OF COUNSEL), FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. SANDRA DOORLEY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, ROCHESTER (SCOTT MYLES OF COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT.
ERIK TEIFKE, ACTING PUBLIC DEFENDER, ROCHESTER (TIMOTHY S. DAVIS OF COUNSEL), FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.
SANDRA DOORLEY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, ROCHESTER (SCOTT MYLES OF COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT.
PRESENT: SMITH, J.P., LINDLEY, MONTOUR, OGDEN, AND GREENWOOD, JJ.
Appeal from a judgment of the Monroe County Court (Douglas A. Randall, J.), rendered November 6, 2019. The judgment convicted defendant upon a plea of guilty of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.
It is hereby ORDERED that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum: On appeal from a judgment convicting him upon his plea of guilty of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree (Penal Law §§ 110.00, 220.16 [1]), defendant contends that his waiver of the right to appeal is invalid and that his sentence is unduly harsh and severe. As the People correctly concede, defendant's waiver of the right to appeal is invalid inasmuch as County Court's explanation that the waiver would foreclose any review by a higher court "utterly 'mischaracterized the nature of the right [that] defendant was being asked to cede'" (People v Thomas, 34 N.Y.3d 545, 565 [2019], cert denied - U.S. -, 140 S.Ct. 2634 [2020]; see People v Youngs, 183 A.D.3d 1228, 1228-1229 [4th Dept 2020], lv denied 35 N.Y.3d 1050 [2020]). Nevertheless, we conclude that the sentence is not unduly harsh or severe.