People v Mateo, 2024 NY Slip Op 02606 [227 AD3d 483]

May 9, 2024

Appellate Division, First Department

[*1]

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

v

Victor Mateo, Appellant.

Jenay Nurse Guilford, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Leanna J. Duncan of counsel), for appellant.

Darcel D. Clark, District Attorney, Bronx (Katherine A. Triffon of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Margaret L. Clancy, J.), rendered February 10, 2022, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of manslaughter in the first degree, and sentencing him to a term of 23 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant made a valid waiver of his right to appeal ( see People v Thomas , 34 NY3d 545 [2019], cert denied 589 US —, 140 S Ct 2634 [2020]), which forecloses review of his challenge to the waiver of his right to be personally present at sentencing. Regardless of whether defendant validly waived his right to appeal, his claim is unpreserved, and we decline to address it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we find that the record establishes that defendant had expressly and validly waived his right to be present ( see People v Rossborough , 27 NY3d 485 [2016]).

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur—Kern, J.P., Oing, Kennedy, Scarpulla, JJ..