PEOPLE v. EKUKPE (2025)

Judgments, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Albert Lorenzo, J.), rendered December 16, 2022, convicting defendant, upon his pleas of guilty, of attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to concurrent terms of 5 years for attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and 2 to 4 years for criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant validly waived his right to appeal (see People v. Thomas, 34 N.Y.3d 545, 122 N.Y.S.3d 226, 144 N.E.3d 970 [2019], cert denied 589 U.S. ––––, 140 S.Ct. 2634, 206 L.Ed.2d 512 [2020]), which forecloses review of his statutory speedy trial claim for his conviction under indictment No. 1511/2011 (see e.g. People v. Hall, 210 A.D.3d 482, 482, 176 N.Y.S.3d 480 [1st Dept. 2022], lv denied 39 N.Y.3d 1078, 184 N.Y.S.3d 275, 204 N.E.3d 1057 [2023];  People v. Lara–Medina, 195 A.D.3d 542, 542, 145 N.Y.S.3d 804 [1st Dept. 2021], lv denied 37 N.Y.3d 993, 152 N.Y.S.3d 426, 174 N.E.3d 366 [2021]).  The court properly explained the nature of the right to appeal, the claims that survive the waiver, and the distinction between the trial rights automatically forfeited upon a plea of guilty and the waiver of the right to appeal as a condition of his plea agreement (see People v. Bradshaw, 18 N.Y.3d 257, 264, 938 N.Y.S.2d 254, 961 N.E.2d 645 [2011]).  It is not dispositive that the court conducted this colloquy only after defendant's allocution (see e.g. People v. Bryant, 28 N.Y.3d 1094, 1096, 45 N.Y.S.3d 335, 68 N.E.3d 60 [2016];  People v. Nunez, 220 A.D.3d 597, 598, 197 N.Y.S.3d 61 [1st Dept. 2023], lv denied 41 N.Y.3d 1004, 213 N.Y.S.3d 222, 236 N.E.3d 1240 [2024]), where, as here, “the record demonstrates that defendant had a full appreciation of the consequences of the waiver and that the waiver was voluntary under the totality of the circumstances” (People v. Cassanova, 234 A.D.3d 622, 226 N.Y.S.3d 64 [1st Dept. 2025] [internal quotation marks omitted];  see People v. Castillo, 226 A.D.3d 573, 574, 207 N.Y.S.3d 525 [1st Dept. 2024], lv denied 41 N.Y.3d 1017, 214 N.Y.S.3d 306, 237 N.E.3d 1246 [2024]).