Patricia Pazner, New York, NY (Lisa Napoli of counsel), for appellant.

Eric Gonzalez, District Attorney, Brooklyn, NY (Leonard Joblove and Avshalom Yotam of counsel; Jordan Najah on the memorandum), for respondent.

DECISION & ORDER

Appeal by the defendant, as limited by his motion, from a sentence of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Craig S. Walker, J.), imposed May 9, 2022, upon his plea of guilty, on the ground that the sentence was excessive.

ORDERED that the sentence is affirmed.

Contrary to the People's contention, the defendant's purported waiver of his right to appeal was invalid (see People v Thomas, 34 NY3d 545). Among other things, during the appeal waiver colloquy, the Supreme Court did not explain what an appeal is or that a waiver of the right to appeal is separate and distinct from those rights automatically forfeited upon a plea of guilty (see People v Alexander, 225 AD3d 890, 891) and never elicited an acknowledgment that the defendant was voluntarily waiving his right to appeal (see People v Muhammad, 231 AD3d 868, 869; People v Santillan, 200 AD3d 1074, 1075). In light of the defendant's age, limited education, cognitive limitations, and lack of prior experience with the criminal justice system, the written waiver form was insufficient to overcome the deficiencies in the oral colloquy (see People v Muhammad, 231 AD3d at 869). Since the purported appeal waiver was invalid, it does not preclude appellate review of the defendant's excessive sentence claim (see People v Haughton, 229 AD3d 467).

Nevertheless, the sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v Suitte, 90 AD2d 80).

DUFFY, J.P., GENOVESI, FORD, TAYLOR and MCCORMACK, JJ., concur.