People v McClain, 2024 NY Slip Op 03250 [228 AD3d 1241]
June 14, 2024
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
[*1]
The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Ajja McClain, Appellant.
Cambareri & Brenneck, Syracuse (Melissa K. Swartz of counsel), for defendant-appellant.
William J. Fitzpatrick, District Attorney, Syracuse (Elisabeth A. Dannan of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal from a judgment of the Onondaga County Court (Matthew J. Doran, J.), rendered August 4, 2022. 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: On appeal from a judgment convicting her, upon a plea of guilty, of manslaughter in the first degree (Penal Law § 125.20 [1]), defendant contends that the waiver of the right to appeal is invalid and that her sentence is unduly harsh and severe. Even assuming, arguendo, that defendant’s waiver of the right to appeal is invalid and therefore does not preclude our review of her challenge to the severity of the sentence ( see People v Albanese , 218 AD3d 1366 , 1366-1367 [4th Dept 2023], lv denied 40 NY3d 995 [2023]; see generally People v Thomas , 34 NY3d 545 , 565-566 [2019], cert denied 589 US —, 140 S Ct 2634 [2020]), we conclude that the sentence is not unduly harsh or severe. Present—Whalen, P.J., Bannister, Montour, Ogden and DelConte, JJ..