People v Bernal
2012 NY Slip Op 00014 [91 AD3d 421]
January 3, 2012
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, February 29, 2012


The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Luis Bernal, Appellant.

[*1] Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Heidi Bota of counsel), for appellant.

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Matthew C. Williams of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Ellen Coin, J.), rendered June 27, 2010, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him to two years in prison followed by two years of post-release supervision, and judgment rendered, same date, court and Justice, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of violation of probation, and sentencing him to a consecutive term of one year of incarceration, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant's waiver of his right to appeal was effective. The lower court made clear that the appellate rights defendant was waiving were distinct from the trial rights extinguished by his guilty plea. During the plea colloquy defendant expressly waived his right to appeal his "conviction," which encompasses his right to challenge his sentence as harsh and excessive (People v Hidalgo, 91 NY2d 733, 737 [1998]). Furthermore, defendant executed a written waiver of his right to appeal (People v Lopez, 6 NY3d 248 [2006]). The record, therefore, establishes that defendant knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived his right to appeal. In any event, defendant's sentence was not excessive. Concur—Gonzalez, P.J., Andrias, DeGrasse, Richter and Abdus-Salaam, JJ.