Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department

M268421

kbp/

CHERYL E. CHAMBERS, J.P.

SHERI S. ROMAN

JEFFREY A. COHEN

LINDA CHRISTOPHER, JJ.

2017-09154 The People, etc., respondent, v Hengjun Chao, appellant. (Ind. No. 16-01002)

DECISION & ORDER ON MOTION

Renewed motion by the appellant pro se for leave to prosecute an appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Westchester County, rendered August 9, 2017, as a poor person and for the assignment of counsel, or, in the alternative, for leave to proceed pro se.

Upon the papers filed in support of the motion and the papers filed in relation thereto, it is

ORDERED that the branches of the motion which are for leave to prosecute the appeal as a poor person and for the assignment of counsel are denied; and it is further,

ORDERED that the branch of the motion which is for leave to proceed pro se is granted; and it is further,

ORDERED that the appellant's time to perfect the appeal is enlarged; the appellant shall prosecute the appeal expeditiously in accordance with this Court's rules (see 22 NYCRR 670.1, et seq.) and written directions; and it is further,

ORDERED that the appellant's brief shall not be accepted for filing unless the appellant files a waiver of the right to appellate counsel, in the form set forth below, acknowledged before a notary public, when the appellant proffers a brief for filing:

WAIVER OF RIGHT TO APPELLATE COUNSEL

I, Hengjun Chao, understand that I have the right to be represented by an attorney in prosecuting my appeal. If I cannot afford to retain counsel, one will be assigned to represent me at State expense. I understand that if I elect to waive my right to counsel and I am incarcerated at the time my appeal is heard, the Court will not permit me to present oral argument. Knowing these rights I voluntarily elect to waive them and to represent myself on the appeal. I have not been forced to waive my rights and I believe myself to be of sufficient intelligence and ability to properly protect my own interests without the assistance of a lawyer to, among of things, write an appellate brief.

Hengjun Chao

State of

County of

On the day of in the year before me, the undersigned, a Notary Public in and for said State, personally appeared Hengjun Chao, personally known to me or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the individual whose name is subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged to me that he executed the same, and that by his signature on the instrument, the individual executed the instrument.

Notary Public

CHAMBERS, J.P., ROMAN, COHEN and CHRISTOPHER, JJ., concur.

ENTER:

Aprilanne Agostino

Clerk of the Court