People v Jones |
2017 NY Slip Op 00216 [146 AD3d 1078] |
January 12, 2017 |
Appellate Division, Third Department |
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
The People of the State of New York,
Respondent, v Nasjuan Jones, Appellant. |
Terrence M. Kelly, Albany, for appellant.
Robert M. Carney, District Attorney, Schenectady (Jonathan Catania, Law Intern), for respondent.
Egan Jr., J. Appeals (1) from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Milano, J.), rendered November 12, 2013 in Schenectady County, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crimes of assault in the first degree and assault in the second degree, and (2) from a judgment of said court, rendered January 3, 2014 in Schenectady County, which resentenced defendant on his conviction of assault in the first degree.
In May 2013, defendant was charged in a 13-count indictment with various
crimes—the most serious of which was attempted murder in the second degree.
Following his arraignment, defendant was remanded to the Schenectady County
Correctional Facility to await trial. While confined to that facility, defendant allegedly
caused physical injury to a peace officer, as a result of which he was indicted and
charged in August 2013 with two counts of assault in the second degree. Thereafter, in
October 2013, defendant pleaded guilty to one count of assault in the first degree (in full
satisfaction of the May 2013 indictment) and one count of assault in the second degree
(in full satisfaction of the Aug. 2013 indictment) and waived his right to appeal. Pursuant
to the terms of the plea agreement, defendant was to be sentenced to concurrent prison
terms of 15 years on the first degree assault conviction and three years on the second
degree assault conviction—with a single period of postrelease supervision ranging
between 2
Thereafter, in November 2013, defendant appeared for sentencing, at which time
some [*2]discussion was had as to whether defendant
would be subject to two "concurrent" terms of postrelease supervision or a single term of
postrelease supervision as to "the more serious level offense in this case." Supreme
Court, deeming this to "be a distinction without a difference," sentenced defendant in
accordance with the terms of the plea agreement and imposed a single
3
The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision subsequently advised
Supreme Court of its failure to impose a period of postrelease supervision upon
defendant's first degree assault conviction, as the result of which defendant returned to
Supreme Court in January 2014 for resentencing. At that time, Supreme Court advised
defendant of its intention to impose a 3
To the extent that defendant's brief may be read as challenging the legality and/or voluntariness of his guilty plea, although this issue survives defendant's uncontested waiver of the right to appeal, it is unpreserved for our review in the absence of an appropriate postallocution motion (see People v Williams, 27 NY3d 212, 221-222 [2016]; People v Terenzi, 57 AD3d 1228, 1229 [2008], lv denied 12 NY3d 822 [2009]). Notably, "defendant was made aware that he would be subject to a period of postrelease supervision at the outset of the resentencing proceeding, and nonetheless failed to move to withdraw his plea prior to the imposition of the resentence" (People v Ullah, 130 AD3d 759, 760 [2015], lv denied 26 NY3d 1043 [2015]). Moreover, the record reflects that, once defendant was confronted with Supreme Court's initial failure to impose a period of postrelease supervision upon the assault in the first degree conviction, Supreme Court expressly asked defendant whether he was willing "to stand by that conviction and that plea" and to proceed with resentencing, to which defendant replied, "Yes." Accordingly, we decline to exercise our interest of justice jurisdiction to take corrective action on this point.
Nor are we persuaded that defendant is entitled to vacatur of his plea under People v Catu (4 NY3d
242 [2005]) and its progeny (see e.g. People v Turner, 24 NY3d 254 [2014]; People v Louree, 8 NY3d
541 [2007]), as this simply is not a case where the sentencing court utterly failed to
apprise a criminal defendant that he or she would be subject to a period of postrelease
supervision and/or neglected to specify the promised or potential duration thereof (compare People v Meyers, 73
AD3d 1231, 1231 [2010]). To the contrary, a review of defendant's plea colloquy
makes clear that he was aware that he would be subject to a period of postrelease
supervision and, further, that he was specifically advised as to the range of postrelease
supervision (2
That said, there indeed are errors as to the postrelease supervision components of the
respective sentences—both with respect to the term of postrelease supervision
actually imposed upon defendant's conviction of assault in the second degree and as to
the term of postrelease supervision reflected on the uniform sentence and commitment
orders relative to defendant's conviction of assault in the first degree. Specifically, as
noted previously, the maximum period of postrelease supervision that may be imposed
upon defendant's conviction of assault in the second degree is three years, not
3
Peters, P.J., McCarthy, Lynch and Devine, JJ., concur. Ordered that the judgment entered November 12, 2013 is modified, on the law, by vacating the period of postrelease supervision imposed upon defendant's conviction of assault in the second degree; matter remitted to the Supreme Court for further proceedings not inconsistent with this Court's decision; and, as so modified, affirmed. Ordered that the judgment entered January 3, 2014 is affirmed, and matter remitted for the entry of a second amended uniform sentence and commitment form.