The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Hal La Valley, Appellant

The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Hal La Valley, Appellant. [758 NYS2d 540] [MAJORITY] —Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of St. Lawrence County (Nicandri, J.), rendered April 8, 2002, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of two counts of the crime of sodomy in the first degree. Defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of the crime of sodomy in the first degree and waived his right to appeal. Defendant was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 10 years on each count and 5 years of postrelease supervision. Defense counsel now seeks to be relieved from his assignment as counsel for defendant on the ground that there are no nonfrivolous issues that can be raised on appeal. Our review of the record, defense counsel’s brief and defendant’s pro se submission, however, reveals the existence of certain issues of “arguable merit” (People v Cruwys, 113 AD2d 979, 980 [1985], lv denied 67 NY2d 650 [1986]), namely, the imposition of the postrelease supervision period which was not included as part of the plea agreement. In light of this, defense counsel’s application to be relieved of his assignment is granted and new counsel will be assigned. Cardona, P.J., Mercure, Crew III, Rose and Lahtinen, JJ., concur. Ordered that the decision is withheld, application to be relieved of assignment granted and new counsel to be assigned.