Opinion
09-21-2016
The PEOPLE, etc., respondent, v. Omar W. AYALA, appellant.
Lynn W.L. Fahey, New York, NY (Nao Terai of counsel), for appellant. Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, NY (John M. Castellano, Johnnette Traill, and Anastasia Spanakos of counsel; Jacob Wells on the memorandum), for respondent.
Lynn W.L. Fahey, New York, NY (Nao Terai of counsel), for appellant.
Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, NY (John M. Castellano, Johnnette Traill, and Anastasia Spanakos of counsel; Jacob Wells on the memorandum), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant, as limited by his motion, from a sentence of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Holder, J.), imposed December 17, 2014, upon his plea of guilty, on the ground that the sentence was excessive.
ORDERED that the sentence is affirmed.
The defendant's purported waiver of his right to appeal was invalid (see People v. Bradshaw, 18 N.Y.3d 257, 265, 938 N.Y.S.2d 254, 961 N.E.2d 645 ; People v. Lopez, 6 N.Y.3d 248, 256–257, 811 N.Y.S.2d 623, 844 N.E.2d 1145 ; People v. Caraballo, 127 A.D.3d 1103, 5 N.Y.S.3d 887 ; People v. Jagroo, 123 A.D.3d 945, 996 N.Y.S.2d 924 ) and, thus, does not preclude review of his excessive sentence claim. Although the defendant has served his sentence, the question of whether the sentence imposed should be reduced is not academic, because the sentence imposed has potential immigration consequences (see People v. Aisewomhonio, 131 A.D.3d 1177, 16 N.Y.S.3d 764 ). Considering all the relevant circumstances of this case, we conclude that the sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v. Suitte, 90 A.D.2d 80, 455 N.Y.S.2d 675 ).
ENG, P.J., BALKIN, DICKERSON, HINDS–RADIX and BARROS, JJ., concur.