PEOPLE v. BARRONS NASDAQ (2026)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Michele Rodney, J., at plea;  Miriam R. Best, J., at sentencing), rendered February 23, 2023, convicting defendant of sexual abuse in the first degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a term of six years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant validly waived his right to appeal (see People v Thomas, 34 NY3d 545, 559 [2019], cert denied 589 U.S. 1302 [2020] ).  Defendant knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to appeal as he explicitly told the court that he understood the waiver and that he had no questions for the court (see People v Sanders, 25 NY3d 337, 339–340 [2015] ).  The court did not conflate defendant's trial rights with his appellate rights as it explained that his “right to appeal is a separate and distinct right from the trial rights” (see People v Flores, 248 AD3d 522, 523 [1st Dept 2026], lv denied 45 NY3d 1037 [2026] ).  The court also did not suggest that the waiver was an absolute bar to taking an appeal as it listed four claims that survived the waiver (see People v Brown, 228 AD3d 465, 465 [1st Dept 2024], lv denied 42 NY3d 1019 [2024] ).  Although the court did not mention that the voluntariness of the plea would have survived the waiver, this alone is did not invalidate an otherwise proper colloquy as we assess a waiver under “the totality of the circumstances” (Thomas, 34 NY3d at 559), and there is no “absolute minimum that must be conveyed to a pleading defendant” (Sanders, 25 NY3d at 341).

Defendant's valid waiver of the right to appeal forecloses our review of the court's summary denial of a Wade hearing (see People v Dunbar, 222 AD3d 493, 494 [1st Dept 2023], lv denied 41 NY3d 942 [2024] ).  It also forecloses review of defendant's excessive sentence claim (see People v Lowndes, 239 AD3d 574, 575 [1st Dept 2025], lv denied 44 NY3d 1012 [2025] ).  In any event, there is no basis for reducing his sentence.