PEOPLE v. HARRIS (1997)

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Schenectady County (Scarano Jr., J.), rendered October 6, 1995, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of robbery in the first degree.

Defendant entered a counseled plea of guilty to a single count of robbery in the first degree in full satisfaction of two multicount indictments as part of a plea bargain that also provided for a negotiated sentence of a 5 to 15-year prison term and a waiver of defendant's right to appeal.   Defendant now appeals and we affirm.

 Initially, we note that defendant's waiver of his right to appeal does not preclude his challenge to the competency of his legal representation (see, People v. Hartford, 217 A.D.2d 798, 799, 629 N.Y.S.2d 822).   Nonetheless, we find nothing in the record to persuade us that defendant was afforded anything other than meaningful representation (see, People v. Baldi, 54 N.Y.2d 137, 147, 444 N.Y.S.2d 893, 429 N.E.2d 400), especially in view of the very favorable plea bargain negotiated by his attorney (see, People v. Chevalier, 226 A.D.2d 925, 928-929, 641 N.Y.S.2d 433, lv. denied 88 N.Y.2d 934, 647 N.Y.S.2d 168, 670 N.E.2d 452).

 As to the issue of the waiver of appeal, it is settled that such waiver will be enforced where the facts and circumstances of the case adequately demonstrate that the waiver was made knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently and did not result from fraud, duress or coercion (see, People v. Hanna, 236 A.D.2d 742, 744, 654 N.Y.S.2d 424, 426, lv. denied 89 N.Y.2d 1094, 660 N.Y.S.2d 387, 682 N.E.2d 988).   Here, as part of the negotiated plea agreement, defendant signed a written waiver of appeal which outlined the rights he was waiving and verified that, after discussing the matter with his attorney, defendant chose to enter into the waiver “voluntarily, knowingly, and without coercion”.   Moreover, County Court explained the significance of the waiver of appeal during the plea allocution and defendant acknowledged his understanding.   Under these circumstances, we find that defendant, who was represented by counsel during all proceedings, effectively waived his right to appeal (see, People v. Moissett, 76 N.Y.2d 909, 911-912, 563 N.Y.S.2d 43, 564 N.E.2d 653;  People v. Seaberg, 74 N.Y.2d 1, 11-12, 543 N.Y.S.2d 968, 541 N.E.2d 1022) and that the waiver must be enforced (see, People v. Raquel, 238 A.D.2d 766, 656 N.Y.S.2d 976;  People v. Sledge, 195 A.D.2d 713, 601 N.Y.S.2d 872, lv. denied 82 N.Y.2d 903, 610 N.Y.S.2d 170, 632 N.E.2d 480).

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

MERCURE, Justice.

MIKOLL, J.P., and CREW, CASEY and YESAWICH, JJ., concur.