PEOPLE v. TOFAJ (2005)

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Saratoga County (Scarano Jr., J.), rendered July 14, 2003, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of attempted burglary in the second degree.

 Defendant pleaded guilty to the crime of attempted burglary in the second degree, waived his right to appeal and was sentenced in accordance with the plea agreement.   Defendant's argument that his plea was involuntary due to County Court's failure to provide an interpreter is unpreserved for review because, although the court ordered an interpreter for all future proceedings, defendant never raised the issue at later proceedings where no interpreter was present nor did he object to the absence of an interpreter (see People v. Fioravantes, 229 A.D.2d 784, 785, 646 N.Y.S.2d 893 [1996], lv. denied 89 N.Y.2d 920, 654 N.Y.S.2d 724, 677 N.E.2d 296 [1996] ).   Further, his failure to move either to withdraw his plea or vacate the judgment of conviction precludes appellate review of his arguments regarding the interpreter and that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel (see People v. Washington, 3 A.D.3d 741, 742, 770 N.Y.S.2d 789 [2004], lv. denied 2 N.Y.3d 747, 778 N.Y.S.2d 472, 810 N.E.2d 925 [2004];  People v. Pagan, 284 A.D.2d 651, 652, 726 N.Y.S.2d 302 [2001], lv. denied 96 N.Y.2d 922, 732 N.Y.S.2d 639, 758 N.E.2d 665 [2001];  People v. Avila, 271 A.D.2d 541, 706 N.Y.S.2d 355 [2000], lvs. denied 95 N.Y.2d 850, 853, 714 N.Y.S.2d 1, 4, 736 N.E.2d 862, 865 [2000] ).   In any event, the record reveals that defendant was capable of understanding the proceedings in English (see People v. Torres, 4 A.D.3d 624, 625, 772 N.Y.S.2d 125 [2004], lv. denied 2 N.Y.3d 765, 778 N.Y.S.2d 784, 811 N.E.2d 46 [2004];  People v. Serna, 270 A.D.2d 646, 646, 704 N.Y.S.2d 717 [2000], lv. denied 95 N.Y.2d 804, 711 N.Y.S.2d 172, 733 N.E.2d 244 [2000] ).   Defendant's remaining contentions are either barred by his waiver of appeal or are without merit.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

KANE, J.

MERCURE, J.P., CREW III, SPAIN and ROSE, JJ., concur.