People v Cecchini, 2024 NY Slip Op 04888 [231 AD3d 1528]

October 4, 2024

Appellate Division, Fourth Department

[*1]

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

v

John S. Cecchini, Jr., Appellant.

The Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc., Buffalo (Jessica Stickl Asbach of counsel), for defendant-appellant.

Joseph V. Cardone, District Attorney, Albion (Susan M. Howard of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Orleans County Court (Sanford A. Church, J.), rendered June 30, 2022. The judgment convicted defendant upon a plea of guilty of burglary in the third degree (two counts).

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

Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him upon his plea of guilty of two counts of burglary in the third degree (Penal Law § 140.20). Contrary to defendant’s contention, we conclude that defendant knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waived his right to appeal ( see People v Thomas , 34 NY3d 545 , 559-564 [2019], cert denied 589 US —, 140 S Ct 2634 [2020]; People v Benjamin , 216 AD3d 1457 , 1457 [4th Dept 2023]). Defendant’s valid waiver of the right to appeal encompasses his challenge to the severity of the sentence ( see People v Lopez , 6 NY3d 248 , 255-256 [2006]). Present—Smith, J.P., Bannister, Montour, DelConte and Hannah, JJ..