People v Strong (2025 NY Slip Op 06453)
People v Strong
2025 NY Slip Op 06453 [243 AD3d 1310]
November 21, 2025
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Tuesday, March 3, 2026


[*1]
 The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
J'Son Strong, Appellant. (Appeal No. 1.)

Julie Cianca, Public Defender, Rochester (Jonathan Garvin of counsel), for defendant-appellant.

Sandra Doorley, District Attorney, Rochester (Merideth H. Smith of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Monroe County (Charles A. Schiano, Jr., J.), rendered July 25, 2022. The judgment convicted defendant, upon a plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

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

Memorandum: In appeal Nos. 1 and 2, defendant appeals from two judgments, each convicting him, upon his plea of guilty during a single plea proceeding, of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (Penal Law § 265.03 [3]). As defendant contends, and the People correctly concede, defendant's waivers of the right to appeal are invalid (see generally People v Thomas, 34 NY3d 545, 564-566 [2019], cert denied 589 US 1302 [2020]; People v Motell, 229 AD3d 1330, 1330-1331 [4th Dept 2024], lv denied 43 NY3d 931 [2025]). Contrary to defendant's contention, however, his sentence is not unduly harsh or severe. Present—Montour, J.P., Smith, Greenwood, Nowak and Keane, JJ.