PEOPLE v. ORELLANO (2025)

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Eligio ORELLANO, Defendant–Appellant.

5334

Decided: December 09, 2025

Webber, J.P., Scarpulla, Rodriguez, Higgitt, Chan, JJ.

Jenay Nurse Guilford, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (David J. Klem of counsel), for appellant. Darcel D. Clark, District Attorney, Bronx (Kevin Arturo Peterson of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Joseph A. McCormack, J.), rendered December 9, 2024, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of promoting prison contraband in the first degree, and sentencing him to a term of 1 to 3 years, unanimously modified, as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, to the extent of vacating any surcharge and fees imposed on defendant at sentencing, and otherwise affirmed.

Defendant validly waived his right to appeal (see People v. Thomas, 34 NY3d 545 [2019], cert denied 589 US ––––, 589 S Ct 2634 [2020]), which forecloses review of his excessive sentence claim. In any event, we perceive no basis to reduce his sentence (People v. Nunez, 201 AD3d 414 [1st Dept 2022], lv denied 38 NY3d 952 [2022]).

While the record contains alleged inconsistencies regarding whether the court ultimately imposed a surcharge and fees on defendant, we need not resolve this question because, assuming that the surcharge and fees were imposed, based on our interest of justice powers, we vacate any surcharge and fees imposed on defendant at sentencing (see People v. Chirinos, 190 AD3d 434 [1st Dept 2021]). We note that the People do not oppose this relief.

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