Inadequate Waiver of the Right to Appeal Required Vacation of Guilty Plea, Despite Lack of Preservation of the Error

The Third Department determined defendant’s waiver of his right to appeal was invalid and his guilty plea must therefore be vacated (in the interest of justice), despite the failure to preserve the error:

Defendant argues that his plea was invalid because County Court failed to advise him of the rights that he would be waiving by pleading guilty, including “the privilege against self-incrimination and the rights to a jury trial and to be confronted by witnesses” … . This argument is unpreserved given defendant’s failure to advance it in his motion to withdraw his plea … . While it is somewhat unclear as to the precise characterization of this type of error … , it is undoubtedly one serious enough to warrant reversal in the interest of justice … . …

… [A] trial court is neither required “to specifically enumerate all the rights to which the defendant was entitled [or] to elicit . . . detailed waivers before accepting [a] guilty plea” …, nor engage in “a uniform mandatory catechism of pleading defendants” … . There must, however, “be ‘an affirmative showing on the record’ that the defendant waived his [or her] constitutional rights” … . County Court made no effort to explain the rights that defendant was giving up by pleading guilty, making nothing more than a passing reference to them when asking if defendant had “any questions.” County Court further failed to establish that “defendant consulted with his attorney about the constitutional consequences of a guilty plea,” instead making a vague inquiry into whether defendant had spoken to defense counsel regarding “the plea bargain” and “the case”… . People v Klinger, 2015 NY Slip Op 04682, 3rd Dept 6-4-15