People v. Danielson

• Decision Date: 28 March 2019
• Docket Number: 108633
• Citation: 170 A.D.3d 1430,96 N.Y.S.3d 754
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. William H. DANIELSON, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

170 A.D.3d 1430

96 N.Y.S.3d 754

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.William H. DANIELSON, Appellant.

108633

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

Calendar Date: February 15, 2019

Decided and Entered: March 28, 2019

Paul J. Connolly, Delmar, for appellant, and appellant pro se.

Michael D. Ferrarese, Acting District Attorney, Norwich (Lauren D. Konsul, New York Prosecutors Training Institute, Inc., Albany, of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Egan Jr., J.P., Clark, Mulvey, Devine and Aarons, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Egan Jr., J.P.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Chenango County (Revoir Jr., J.), rendered December 18, 2015, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of murder in the second degree.

In January 2014, defendant was charged in a five-count indictment with murder in the second degree (two counts), robbery in the first degree, assault in the first degree and assault in the second degree. The charges stemmed from an incident occurring in the early morning hours of December 27, 2013 in which defendant brutally beat the victim, causing mortal injuries from which she would succumb the next day. Following jury selection, defendant elected to forgo a trial and, instead, pleaded guilty to one count of murder in the second degree in satisfaction of the indictment and waived his right to appeal. Defendant was thereafter sentenced, in accordance with the terms of his plea agreement, to 20 years to life in prison. Defendant now appeals.

We affirm. Contrary to defendant's contention, his waiver of the right to appeal was knowing, voluntary and intelligent. At the outset of the plea colloquy, defendant's counsel indicated that he had discussed the appeal waiver with defendant, including the fact that, notwithstanding the appeal waiver, defendant retained certain rights to appeal, such as challenging the voluntariness of his guilty plea. County Court thereafter distinguished defendant's right to appeal from the panoply of other trial-related rights that are automatically forfeited by entering a guilty plea (see People v. Sanders, 25 N.Y.3d 337, 341–342, 12 N.Y.S.3d 593, 34 N.E.3d 344 [2015] ; People v. Lopez, 6 N.Y.3d 248, 256, 811 N.Y.S.2d 623, 844 N.E.2d 1145 [2006] ; People v. Khan, 139 A.D.3d 1261, 1262, 31 N.Y.S.3d 671 [2016], lvs denied 28 N.Y.3d 932, 934, 40 N.Y.S.3d 360, 362, 63 N.E.3d 80, 82 [2016] ). In addition, at sentencing, defendant executed a written waiver of appeal, indicating that he had read same and discussed it with counsel prior to signing it. Accordingly, although County Court may not have specifically used the language "separate and distinct" during its plea colloquy, we note that there is no "particular litany or catechism" that a court must use during its allocution ( People v. Bradshaw, 18 N.Y.3d 257, 264–265, 938 N.Y.S.2d 254, 961 N.E.2d 645 [2011] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]; see People v. Walker, 166 A.D.3d 1393, 1393–1394, 86 N.Y.S.3d 920 [2018] ). Upon review, we find that defendant knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently waived his right to appeal (see People v. Sanders, 25 N.Y.3d at 339–341, 12 N.Y.S.3d 593, 34 N.E.3d 344 ).

Given defendant's valid appeal waiver, he is precluded from challenging County Court's adverse ruling on his pretrial suppression motion (see People v. Sanders, 25 N.Y.3d at 342, 12 N.Y.S.3d 593, 34 N.E.3d 344 ; People v. Daniels, 167 A.D.3d 1088, 1089, 89 N.Y.S.3d 436 [2018] ; People v. Saunders, 162 A.D.3d 1217, 1218, 78 N.Y.S.3d 790 [2018], lv denied 32 N.Y.3d 1128, 93 N.Y.S.3d 267, 117 N.E.3d 826 [2018] ), as well as his claim of judicial bias (see People v. Debberman, 113 A.D.3d 929, 929, 978 N.Y.S.2d 448 [2014] ; People v. White, 81 A.D.3d 1039, 1039, 916 N.Y.S.2d 652 [2011] ) and his various challenges to the sentence and sentencing proceedings (see People v. Daniels, 167 A.D.3d at 1089, 89 N.Y.S.3d 436 ; People v. Williams, 163 A.D.3d 1172, 1173, 81 N.Y.S.3d 636 [2018], lv denied 32 N.Y.3d 1009, 86 N.Y.S.3d 768, 111 N.E.3d 1124 [2018] ; People v. Collier, 71 A.D.3d 909, 910, 895 N.Y.S.2d 848 [2010], lv denied 15 N.Y.3d 773, 907 N.Y.S.2d 461, 933 N.E.2d 1054 [2010] ; People v. Schweppe, 250 A.D.2d 881, 881, 672 N.Y.S.2d 267 [1998], lv denied 92 N.Y.2d 905, 680 N.Y.S.2d 69, 702 N.E.2d 854 [1998] ). Defendant's challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence before the grand jury is precluded by his guilty plea (see People v. Wilburn, 158 A.D.3d 894, 894–895, 71 N.Y.S.3d 181 [2018], lv denied 31 N.Y.3d 1123, 81 N.Y.S.3d 383, 106 N.E.3d 766 [2018] ), as is his claim that the court erred in denying his motion to disqualify the District Attorney's office from prosecuting his case (see People v. Ball, 152 A.D.3d 973, 974, 55 N.Y.S.3d 915 [2017], lv denied 30 N.Y.3d 978, 67 N.Y.S.3d 580, 89 N.E.3d 1260 [2017] ). Although defendant's further contention that the grand jury proceedings were jurisdictionally defective survives his appeal waiver and guilty plea, we have reviewed the provided grand jury minutes and find said contention to be without merit (see People v. Busreth, 167 A.D.3d 1089, 1090, 87 N.Y.S.3d 406 [2018] ; People v. Bonds, 148 A.D.3d 1304, 1305, 47 N.Y.S.3d 916 [2017], lvs denied 29 N.Y.3d 1076, 1081, 64 N.Y.S.3d 166, 86 N.E.3d 253 [2017] ).

With regard to defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim, initially we find that his challenge to defense counsel's motion practice was forfeited upon the entry of his guilty plea (see People v. Gorman, 165 A.D.3d 1349, 1350, 85 N.Y.S.3d 614 [2018], lv denied 32 N.Y.3d 1125, 93 N.Y.S.3d 263, 117 N.E.3d 822 [2018] ; People v. Duggins, 161 A.D.3d 1445, 1446, 77 N.Y.S.3d 765 [2018], lv denied 32 N.Y.3d 937, 84 N.Y.S.3d 863, 109 N.E.3d 1163 [2018] ). To the extent that defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim impacts the voluntariness of his plea,...