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PEOPLE v. LAPOINT (2022)

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.2022-01-27No. 111941

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Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of St. Lawrence County (Richards, J.), rendered October 3, 2019, convicting defendant upon her plea of guilty of the crime of grand larceny in the third degree.

In satisfaction of a two-count indictment stemming from defendants misappropriation of funds from her daughters special needs trust, defendant pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of grand larceny in the third degree and agreed to waive her right to appeal.  County Court sentenced defendant pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement to a prison term of 20 to 60 months.  In addition, and independent of the terms of the plea agreement, the court, notwithstanding defendants objection, issued a permanent order of protection prohibiting harassment and certain other behavior by defendant against the daughter.  Defendant appeals.

Defendant contends that the waiver of the right to appeal is invalid and, therefore, she is not precluded from challenging the sentence as harsh and excessive.  We disagree.  Defendant was informed that the waiver of the right to appeal was a condition of the plea agreement.  County Court explained, and defendant acknowledged that she understood, that the waiver of the right to appeal was separate and distinct from the rights defendant was forfeiting as a result of the guilty plea and informed her that certain appellate rights survived the waiver.  In addition, defendant then read and executed a detailed written appeal waiver that specifically extended to any claim that the sentence is harsh or excessive and affirmed that she had reviewed it with counsel and understood its contents.  In view of the foregoing, we find that defendant knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently waived her right to appeal and, therefore, her challenge to the severity of the sentence imposed is precluded (see People v. Richards, 195 A.D.3d 1248, 1248, 145 N.Y.S.3d 867 [2021];  People v. Wilson, 194 A.D.3d 1195, 1196, 147 N.Y.S.3d 245 [2021]).

We also find that defendants contention that County Court abused its discretion in issuing the order of protection at the time of sentencing – a challenge that, under the circumstances, is not precluded by the appeal waiver (see People v. Moncrieft, 168 A.D.3d 982, 985, 92 N.Y.S.3d 335 [2019], lv denied 33 N.Y.3d 951, 100 N.Y.S.3d 192, 123 N.E.3d 851 [2019]) – is without merit.  The record belies defendants contention that the reason for issuing the order of protection was not set forth by the court (see CPL 530.12[5]).  The court specifically noted that it was imposing the no harassment order of protection to prevent defendant from unreasonably interfering with her daughters everyday life.  To the extent that defendant contends that the court should have held a hearing prior to issuing the order of protection, we note that defendant did not request such a hearing.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

Egan Jr., J.P., Lynch, Clark, Aarons and Pritzker, JJ., concur.