People v Nafi, 2024 NY Slip Op 03291 [228 AD3d 1342]

June 14, 2024

Appellate Division, Fourth Department

[*1]

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

v

Zakkee Nafi, Appellant.

The Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc., Buffalo (Nicholas P. DiFonzo of counsel), for defendant-appellant.

Michael J. Keane, Acting District Attorney, Buffalo (Harmony A. Healy of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Erie County (Paul Wojtaszek, J.), rendered July 12, 2021. The judgment convicted defendant, upon a guilty plea, of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

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

Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him, upon his guilty plea, of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (Penal Law § 265.03 [3]). Even assuming, arguendo, that defendant’s waiver of the right to appeal is invalid ( see People v Vilella , 213 AD3d 1282 , 1283 [4th Dept 2023], lv denied 39 NY3d 1157 [2023]; People v Hemphill , 192 AD3d 1479 , 1480 [4th Dept 2021]; see generally People v Thomas , 34 NY3d 545 , 564-566 [2019], cert denied 589 US —, 140 S Ct 2634 [2020]) and thus does not preclude our review of his challenge to his sentence, we conclude that the sentence is not unduly harsh or severe. Present—Smith, J.P., Curran, Montour, Nowak and DelConte, JJ..