People v. Bryant

• Citation: 10 N.Y.S.3d 341,128 A.D.3d 1223,2015 N.Y. Slip Op. 04349
• Decision Date: 21 May 2015
• Docket Number: 106024
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Travis BRYANT, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court Appellate Division

128 A.D.3d 1223
10 N.Y.S.3d 341
2015 N.Y. Slip Op. 04349

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent
v.
Travis BRYANT, Appellant.

106024

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

May 21, 2015.

10 N.Y.S.3d 342

Bruce Evans Knoll, Albany, for appellant.

D. Holley Carnright, District Attorney, Kingston (Joan Gudesblatt Lamb of counsel), for respondent.

Before: LAHTINEN, J.P., McCARTHY, GARRY and LYNCH, JJ.

Opinion

LYNCH, J.

128 A.D.3d 1223

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Ulster County (Williams, J.), rendered July 10, 2013, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of burglary in the first degree.

128 A.D.3d 1224

Defendant was charged in a six-count indictment with various offenses after he broke into his paramour's residence and threatened to set it and its inhabitants ablaze. In full satisfaction of the indictment, defendant pleaded guilty to one count of burglary in the first degree and waived his right to appeal from the conviction and sentence. As part of the plea arrangement, County Court agreed to sentence defendant to 12 years in prison to be followed by five years of postrelease supervision. The court ultimately imposed that sentence, and defendant now appeals.

Defendant initially argues that his appeal waiver violated public policy, but it is well settled that “[w]aiving one's right to appeal as part of a plea agreement is not inherently coercive or against public policy” (People v. Galietta, 75 A.D.3d 753, 754, 904 N.Y.S.2d 804 [2010] ; see People v. Seaberg, 74 N.Y.2d 1, 8–10, 543 N.Y.S.2d 968, 541 N.E.2d 1022 [1989] ; People v. Morrison, 106 A.D.3d 1201, 1202, 964 N.Y.S.2d 761 [2013], lv. denied 23 N.Y.3d 1065, 994 N.Y.S.2d 324, 18 N.E.3d 1145 [2014] ). While defendant complains that County Court improperly injected itself into the plea bargaining process by refusing to impose a lesser sentence that the People found acceptable, his “argument[ ] overlook[s] the role of the trial court and its obligation to insure the reasonableness of the bargain struck and of the sentence imposed” (People v. Seaberg, 74 N.Y.2d at 8, 543 N.Y.S.2d 968, 541 N.E.2d 1022 ; see People v. Farrar, 52 N.Y.2d 302, 305, 437 N.Y.S.2d 961, 419 N.E.2d 864 [1981] ; People v. Selikoff, 35 N.Y.2d 227, 240–241, 360 N.Y.S.2d 623, 318 N.E.2d 784 [1974], cert. denied 419 U.S. 1122, 95 S.Ct. 806, 42 L.Ed.2d 822 [1975] ). Defendant's further contention that County Court unilaterally imposed an appeal waiver to insulate the sentence from appellate review is not borne out by the record. The court held several conferences with defense counsel and the People prior to accepting the plea, and defense counsel confirmed that the court accurately stated the terms of the plea agreement. Defendant's appeal waiver was therefore not void as against public policy and, despite his further contentions, our review of...