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THE ORAL COLLOQUY FOR THE WAIVER OF APPEAL WAS DEFECTIVE; THE DEFECT WAS NOT CURED BY THE WRITTEN WAIVER BECAUSE DEFENDANT WAS NOT ASKED WHETHER HE READ OR UNDERSTOOD IT BEFORE SIGNING; DEFENDANT DID NOT ADMIT TO HAVING AN INTENT TO COMMIT A CRIME WHEN HE ENTERED THE HOUSE, HE ADMITTED ONLY THE INTENT TO RETRIEVE HIS OWN PROPERTY; THE PLEA TO BURGLARY WAS VACATED (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, vacating defendant’s guilty plea, determined defendant’s waiver of appeal was invalid and he did not admit to an essential element of burglary, the intent to commit a crime upon entering:

… [W]e agree with defendant that his waiver of the right to appeal is invalid. Supreme Court’s oral colloquy was overbroad inasmuch as the court told defendant that his waiver of the right to appeal marks the “end of the case.” Although the record establishes that defendant executed a written waiver of the right to appeal, the written waiver “does not cure the deficient oral colloquy because the court did not inquire of defendant whether he understood the written waiver or whether he had read the waiver before signing it” … .

Defendant contends that his plea is invalid because the plea allocution negated an element of the crime to which he pleaded guilty. As defendant acknowledges, he never moved to withdraw his plea, nor did he ever seek to vacate the judgment of conviction. This case, however, falls within the rare exception to the preservation requirement … . Burglary in the first degree requires that a person knowingly enter or remain unlawfully in a dwelling with the “intent to commit a crime therein” (Penal Law § 140.30). Here, defendant twice indicated during his factual allocution that he did not intend to commit any crimes when he entered the house in question and, while he admitted that he intended to retrieve his own property, retrieving one’s own property does not establish larcenous intent … . Although the court attempted to conduct an inquiry following defendant’s insistence that he did not intend to commit any crimes when he entered the house, such inquiry was insufficient … . The court therefore erred in accepting defendant’s guilty plea … . People v Small, 2026 NY Slip Op 03560, Fourth Dept 6-5-26

Practice Point: Re: a waiver of appeal, a defect in the oral appeal-waiver colloquy with the judge is not cured by a written waiver unless the defendant is asked whether he read and understood the written waiver before signing it.

Practice Point: Entering a home with the intent to retrieve one’s own property is not “burglary” because the entry was not accompanied by an intent to commit a crime.

 

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