People v. Payson

• Decision Date: 17 December 2020
• Docket Number: 110192
• Citation: 189 A.D.3d 1820,137 N.Y.S.3d 580
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. James PAYSON, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

189 A.D.3d 1820

137 N.Y.S.3d 580

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.James PAYSON, Appellant.

110192

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

Calendar Date: November 19, 2020

Decided and Entered: December 17, 2020

Dennis J. Lamb, Troy, for appellant.

Craig P. Carriero, District Attorney, Malone (Jennifer M. Hollis of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Garry, P.J., Egan Jr., Aarons and Pritzker, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Pritzker, J.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Franklin County (Richards, J.), rendered November 14, 2017, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of promoting a sexual performance by a child (four counts).

Defendant was charged in an 88–count indictment with predatory sexual assault of a child, sex trafficking, promoting a sexual performance by a child (43 counts) and possessing a sexual performance by a child (43 counts). In satisfaction of all charges, defendant pleaded guilty to four counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child and waived his right to appeal. County Court thereafter imposed a prison term on each conviction of 2 to 7 years, to be served consecutively to one another. Defendant appeals.

We affirm. Defendant's challenge to his guilty plea as not knowing, voluntary and intelligent was not preserved for our review by an appropriate postallocution motion, despite ample time to do so (see CPL 220.60[3] ; People v. Williams , 27 N.Y.3d 212, 219–222, 32 N.Y.S.3d 17, 51 N.E.3d 528 [2016] ; People v. Favreau , 174 A.D.3d 1226, 1227, 105 N.Y.S.3d 721 [2019], lv denied 34 N.Y.3d 980, 113 N.Y.S.3d 631, 137 N.E.3d 1 [2019] ). Further, defendant did not make any statements during his plea allocution or prior to being sentenced that were inconsistent with his guilt or called into question the voluntariness of his plea so as to trigger the narrow exception to the preservation rule (see People v. Tyrell , 22 N.Y.3d 359, 363–364, 981 N.Y.S.2d 336, 4 N.E.3d 346 [2013] ; People v. Lopez , 71 N.Y.2d 662, 666, 529 N.Y.S.2d 465, 525 N.E.2d 5 [1988] ).

Even were we to view defendant's post-sentencing outburst regarding the agreed-upon sentence as preserving a challenge to the voluntariness of his guilty plea, we would find that it is belied by the record and lacks merit. After sentence was imposed, defendant exclaimed that defense counsel had "lied to [him]" by telling him that he would be sentenced to 1 to 7 years in prison, and would be "out in five years" with good behavior, and that he had entered a guilty plea based on that mistaken expectation. Defendant did not, however, move to withdraw his guilty plea or seek any other relief (see CPL 220.60[3] ). Contrary to defendant's claim, the plea terms were clearly spelled out on the record more than once before he pleaded guilty, including that County Court would impose four consecutive 2 to 7–year prison sentences that would, in aggregate, total 9 to 28 years; defendant assured the court during the plea allocution that there had been no other sentencing promises. As such, there is no support in the record that defendant was misadvised regarding the promised sentence, or that he entered the plea under a mistaken belief as to the sentencing promise.

Defendant also argues that his plea is invalid in that County Court failed to advise him how his aggregate sentence would be adjusted pursuant to Penal Law § 70.30(1)(e)(i). Penal Law § 70.30, which provides for the calculation of multiple sentences, "does not affect the authority of the courts to impose multiple sentences or govern the lengths of individual sentences, but instead it provides direction to the correctional authorities as to how to compute the time which must be served under the sentences" ( People ex rel. Ryan v. Cheverko , 22 N.Y.3d 132, 136, 979 N.Y.S.2d 269, 2 N.E.3d 233 [2013] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]; see People v. Moore , 61 N.Y.2d 575, 578, 475 N.Y.S.2d 354, 463 N.E.2d 1206 [1984] ). As we previously recognized, "[t]he failure to inform [a] defendant of such calculations – which is done by correctional authorities – does not render the plea involuntary" ( People v. DePerno , 148 A.D.3d 1463, 1465, 51 N.Y.S.3d 641 [2017], lv denied 29 N.Y.3d 1030, 62 N.Y.S.3d 299, 84 N.E.3d 971 [2017] ; see People v. Wiggins , 176 A.D.3d 1255, 1257, 111 N.Y.S.3d 132 [2019] ). Although during the plea proceeding there was a brief reference to correction authorities adjusting the aggregate sentence, which defense counsel indicated he had discussed with defendant, no specifics were discussed, and the record does not reflect that defendant was in any sense misinformed as to what that adjustment would be. Under these circumstances, we find that defendant's guilty plea was knowing, voluntary and intelligent (see People v. Wiggins , 176 A.D.3d at 1257, 111 N.Y.S.3d 132 ; see People v. Conceicao , 26 N.Y.3d 375, 382–383, 23 N.Y.S.3d 124, 44 N.E.3d 199 [2015] ). Defendant's challenge to his agreed-upon sentence as harsh and excessive is precluded by his oral and written waiver of appeal, which made clear the separate and distinct nature of that waiver and its consequences (see People v. Lopez , 6 N.Y.3d 248, 256, 811 N.Y.S.2d 623, 844 N.E.2d 1145 [2006] ; People v. Sabin , 179 A.D.3d 1401, 1402, 118 N.Y.S.3d 769 [2020], lv denied 35 N.Y.3d 995, 125 N.Y.S.3d 628, 149 N.E.3d 389 [2020] ).

Defendant's related claim that he was...