People v Ruddy |
2008 NY Slip Op 04230 [51 AD3d 1134] |
May 8, 2008 |
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 Aaron P. Ruddy, Appellant. |
—[*1]
James A. Murphy III, District Attorney, Ballston Spa (Nicholas Tishler of counsel), for
respondent.
Peters, J. Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Saratoga County (Scarano, J.), rendered May 15, 2006, which revoked defendant's probation and imposed a sentence of imprisonment.
In July 2005, in full satisfaction of a two-count indictment and other pending charges,
defendant pleaded guilty to the crime of burglary in the third degree, a class D felony, and
received an agreed-upon sentence of time served and five years of probation. The terms of the
plea included defendant's compliance with the terms and conditions of the Saratoga County Drug
Treatment Court program. County Court specifically advised defendant that, in the event he
failed to comply with the conditions of the plea, he would be resentenced to a prison term of
2
At the outset, although defendant challenges the propriety of the original sentence imposed in July 2005, the record contains no indication that defendant ever appealed from the [*2]original judgment of conviction. As such, any questions regarding the original conviction and sentence are not properly before us on this appeal, and we may consider only the propriety of defendant's resentencing (see CPL 450.30 [3]; People v Dabbs, 178 AD2d 848, 848-849 [1991], lv denied 79 NY2d 946 [1992]; see also People v Brown, 307 AD2d 759, 759 [2003]).
With respect to the May 2006 resentence, we agree that such sentence is invalid as a matter of law due to the People's failure to file a predicate felony statement regarding defendant's Colorado felony conviction prior to resentencing (see Penal Law § 70.06 [1] [b] [i], [iv]; CPL 400.21 [2]; People v Scarbrough, 66 NY2d 673, 674 [1985]; People v May, 180 AD2d 974, 974 [1992]). The record reflects that the People and County Court were aware of the prior Colorado felony conviction prior to the original sentencing in July 2005. Moreover, the May 2006 presentence report contains this information and was available to both the People and County Court at the time of resentencing, at which time the People could have timely moved to set aside the original sentence and complied with the filing requirement (see CPL 440.40 [1]; People v Holley, 168 AD2d 992, 992 [1990]). Under these circumstances, the failure to comply with the mandatory filing requirements of CPL 400.21 (2) renders defendant's May 2006 sentence invalid as a matter of law and, consequently, the sentence must be vacated and the case remitted to County Court for the filing of a predicate felony statement and resentencing (see People v Scarbrough, 66 NY2d at 674; People v May, 180 AD2d at 974; see also People v Adams, 45 AD3d 1346, 1347 [2007]).
Upon remittal, County Court may not impose the agreed-upon prison sentence of
2
Mercure, J.P., Kane and Kavanagh, JJ., concur. Ordered that judgment is modified, on the law, by vacating the sentence imposed; matter remitted to the County Court of Saratoga County for further proceedings not inconsistent with this Court's decision; and, as so modified, affirmed.