People v Bouie, 2024 NY Slip Op 02642 [227 AD3d 1540]
May 10, 2024
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
[*1]
The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Devonte Bouie, Appellant.
Julie Cianca, Public Defender, Rochester (Jane I. Yoon of counsel), for defendant-appellant.
Sandra Doorley, District Attorney, Rochester (Lisa Gray of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Monroe County (Alex R. Renzi, J.), rendered May 19, 2021. The judgment convicted defendant, upon a guilty plea, of manslaughter in the first degree.
It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him, upon a plea of guilty, of manslaughter in the first degree (Penal Law § 125.20 [1]). We agree with defendant that his waiver of the right to appeal is invalid. The written waiver used overbroad language that “ ’mischaracterized the nature of the right[s] that defendant was being asked to cede, portraying the waiver as an absolute bar to defendant taking an appeal’ ” ( People v Johnson , 192 AD3d 1494 , 1495 [4th Dept 2021], lv denied 37 NY3d 965 [2021]; see People v Thomas , 34 NY3d 545 , 565 [2019], cert denied 589 US —, 140 S Ct 2634 [2020]; People v St. Denis , 207 AD3d 1084 , 1084 [4th Dept 2022]), and the oral colloquy did not cure that defect ( see Thomas , 34 NY3d at 566; People v Fernandez , 218 AD3d 1257 , 1258 [4th Dept 2023], lv denied 40 NY3d 1012 [2023]; People v Rumph , 207 AD3d 1209 , 1210 [4th Dept 2022], lv denied 39 NY3d 1075 [2023]). Nevertheless, we reject defendant’s contention that his sentence is unduly harsh and severe. Present—Smith, J.P., Bannister, Montour, Greenwood and Nowak, JJ..