PEOPLE v. CRAMER (2018)

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

It is hereby ORDERED that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.

Memorandum:  Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him upon his plea of guilty of attempted murder in the second degree (Penal Law §§ 110.00, 125.25[1] ).  We agree with defendant that the waiver of the right to appeal is invalid because “the minimal inquiry made by County Court was insufficient to establish that the court engage[d] ․ defendant in an adequate colloquy to ensure that the waiver of the right to appeal was a knowing and voluntary choice” (People v. Carroll, 148 A.D.3d 1546, 1546, 49 N.Y.S.3d 808 [4th Dept. 2017], lv denied 29 N.Y.3d 1077, 64 N.Y.S.3d 166, 86 N.E.3d 253 [2017] [internal quotation marks omitted];  see People v. Lewis [Appeal No. 1], 161 A.D.3d 1588, 1588, 72 N.Y.S.3d 919 [4th Dept. 2018] ).  Moreover, the colloquy concerning the waiver of the right to appeal, which was immediately preceded by a colloquy concerning the rights automatically forfeited by a guilty plea, conflated the right to appeal with the rights forfeited by a guilty plea (see People v. Cooper, 136 A.D.3d 1397, 1398, 24 N.Y.S.3d 481 [4th Dept. 2016], lv denied 27 N.Y.3d 1067, 38 N.Y.S.3d 838, 60 N.E.3d 1204 [2016] ).  We nevertheless reject defendant's challenge to the severity of the sentence.