THE LEGAL AID BUREAU OF BUFFALO, INC., BUFFALO (ALAN WILLIAMS OF COUNSEL), FOR DEFENDANT–APPELLANT.
JOHN J. FLYNN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, BUFFALO (DANIEL J. PUNCH OF COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT.
PRESENT: CENTRA, J.P., CARNI, DEJOSEPH, CURRAN, AND WINSLOW, JJ.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
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 criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree ( Penal Law § 220.18[1] ). Contrary to defendant's contention, we conclude that "[t]he plea colloquy and the written waiver of the right to appeal signed [and acknowledged in County Court] by defendant demonstrate that [he] knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived the right to appeal, including the right to appeal the severity of the sentence" ( People v. Pierce, 151 A.D.3d 1964, 1965, 54 N.Y.S.3d 909 [4th Dept. 2017], lv denied 30 N.Y.3d 952, 67 N.Y.S.3d 135, 89 N.E.3d 525 [2017] [internal quotation marks omitted] ). Defendant's valid waiver of the right to appeal forecloses his challenge to the severity of the sentence (see People v. Lopez, 6 N.Y.3d 248, 255, 811 N.Y.S.2d 623, 844 N.E.2d 1145 [2006] ; People v. Hidalgo, 91 N.Y.2d 733, 737, 675 N.Y.S.2d 327, 698 N.E.2d 46 [1998] ; cf. People v. Maracle, 19 N.Y.3d 925, 928, 950 N.Y.S.2d 498, 973 N.E.2d 1272 [2012] ).