PEOPLE v. FLOYD (2023)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Neil E. Ross, J.), rendered January 5, 2017, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender with a prior violent felony conviction, to a term of three years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant's waiver of his right to appeal was invalid because the court did not adequately explain the nature of the appellate rights he was waiving (see People v. Lopez, 6 N.Y.3d 248, 256, 811 N.Y.S.2d 623, 844 N.E.2d 1145 [2006];  People v. Ramos, 122 A.D.3d 462, 464, 997 N.Y.S.2d 24 [1st Dept. 2014]).  Nevertheless, the court correctly denied defendant's motion to controvert the search warrant.  According to reasonable inferences that may be drawn from the search warrant affidavit, the first drug buy was made about three weeks before the search warrant application and the second buy was made about five days before the application.  Accordingly, the information in the search warrant application was not stale, and there was reasonable cause to believe that there was an ongoing drug enterprise at the target premises (see People v. Reyes, 205 A.D.2d 452, 613 N.Y.S.2d 892 [1st Dept. 1994], lv denied 84 N.Y.2d 870, 618 N.Y.S.2d 16, 642 N.E.2d 335 [1994];  People v. Villanueva, 161 A.D.2d 552, 553, 556 N.Y.S.2d 293 [1st Dept. 1990]).