People v Torrance
2022 NY Slip Op 04266 [207 AD3d 1089] [207 AD3d 1089]
July 1, 2022
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, August 31, 2022


[*1]
 The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
James Torrance, Appellant.

Frank H. Hiscock Legal Aid Society, Syracuse (Caitlin M. Connelly of counsel), for defendant-appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Onondaga County Court (Matthew J. Doran, J.), rendered July 6, 2021. The judgment convicted defendant upon his plea of guilty of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.

It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.

Memorandum: On appeal from a judgment convicting him upon a plea of guilty of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree (Penal Law § 220.16 [12]), defendant contends that his waiver of the right to appeal is invalid and that the sentence imposed is unduly harsh and severe. Even assuming, arguendo, that defendant's waiver of the right to appeal is invalid and therefore does not preclude our review of his challenge to the severity of his sentence (see People v Hoffman, 191 AD3d 1262, 1263 [4th Dept 2021], lv denied 36 NY3d 1097 [2021]), we conclude that the sentence is not unduly harsh or severe. Present—Smith, J.P., Centra, Peradotto, Curran and Winslow, JJ.