People v Carno
2012 NY Slip Op 08937 [101 AD3d 1663]
December 21, 2012
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, February 6, 2013


The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Nicholas Carno, Appellant.

[*1] Frank H. Hiscock Legal Aid Society, Syracuse (Philip Rothschild of counsel), for defendant-appellant. William J. Fitzpatrick, District Attorney, Syracuse (Susan C. Azzarelli of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Onondaga County Court (Jeffrey R. Merrill, A.J.), rendered August 4, 2009. The judgment convicted defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree.

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

Memorandum: On appeal from a judgment convicting him upon his plea of guilty of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree (Penal Law § 170.25), defendant contends that the waiver of the right to appeal is invalid and that the sentence is unduly harsh and severe. We agree with defendant that the waiver of the right to appeal is invalid. Although the record establishes that defendant executed a written waiver of the right to appeal, there was no colloquy between County Court and defendant regarding the waiver of the right to appeal to ensure that it was knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently entered (see People v Cooper, 85 AD3d 1594, 1594 [2011], affd 19 NY3d 501 [2012]). We nevertheless conclude that the sentence is not unduly harsh or severe. Present—Smith, J.P., Peradotto, Carni, Sconiers and Whalen, JJ.