TO BE ENFORCEABLE, A WAIVER OF APPEAL MUST BE SUPPORTED BY A SENTENCING COMMITMENT OR OTHER CONSIDERATION (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department noted that a waiver of appeal, to be enforceable, must be supported by a sentence promise as consideration:

Defendant correctly argues in his main brief that his waiver of the right to appeal is invalid because he pleaded guilty to the sole count of the indictment ” without receiving a sentencing commitment or any other consideration’ ” … . County Court’s promise to consider imposing a sentence below the statutory maximum merely restated its preexisting statutory and common-law obligation to impose an appropriate legal sentence … , and we agree with defendant that such a promise is the equivalent of no promise at all and cannot supply the consideration necessary to enforce a waiver of the right to appeal . As the Second Circuit explained in invalidating a waiver of the right to appeal under similar circumstances… , such an illusory promise is not consideration for a waiver because it affords the defendant “no benefit . . . beyond what he would have gotten by pleading guilty without an agreement” … . People v Schmidinger, 2019 NY Slip Op 08324, Fourth Dept 11-15-19