People v Kozlowski
2006 NY Slip Op 04932 [30 AD3d 250]
June 15, 2006
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, August 23, 2006


The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Paul Kozlowski, Appellant.

[*1]

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Eduardo Padro, J., at plea; Arlene D. Goldberg, J., at postplea proceedings; Michael R. Ambrecht, J., at sentence), rendered December 16, 2004, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 3½ to 7 years, unanimously affirmed.

Although defendant claims that he received a longer sentence than the one he bargained for, and that his attorney rendered ineffective assistance by failing to notice the alleged discrepancy, he does not request that his plea be vacated as involuntary, but only that his sentence be reduced to a term of 3 to 6 years. Regardless of whether defendant's valid waiver of his right to appeal forecloses review of these claims (see People v Lopez, 6 NY3d 248 [2006]; People v Hall, 16 AD3d 848, 849 [2005], lv denied 4 NY3d 887 [2005]), we conclude that defendant's sentence was consistent with the unambiguous plea agreement, that counsel provided effective assistance (see People v Ford, 86 NY2d 397, 404 [1995]), and that there is no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur—Andrias, J.P., Marlow, Sweeny, McGuire and Malone, JJ.