People v. Bouton

Appellate counsel seeks to be relieved of his assignment of representing defendant on the ground that there are no nonfrivolous issues to be raised on appeal. Based upon our review of the record, we disagree. We find at least one issue of arguable merit pertaining to the validity of the waiver of appeal that has implications for other potential issues that may be raised (see People v Roche, 82 AD3d 1364, 1365 [2011]; People v Morton, 45 AD3d 1191, 1191 [2007]). Therefore, without passing judgment on the ultimate merit of this issue, we grant counsel’s application and assign new counsel to…