People v Vasquez
2007 NY Slip Op 04689 [41 AD3d 111]
Decided on June 5, 2007
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law ยง 431.
This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.


Decided on June 5, 2007
Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Andrias, Williams, McGuire, JJ.

1232
Ind. 585/01

[*1]The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

v

Steven Vasquez, Defendant-Appellant.





Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York
(Mark W. Zeno of counsel), and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley &
McCloy LLP, New York (Joshua R. Pater of counsel), for
appellant.
Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Tracy L.
Conn of counsel), for respondent.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Charles H. Solomon, J.), entered on or about September 8, 2006, which denied defendant's motion to be resentenced pursuant to the Drug Law Reform Act, unanimously affirmed.

Section 23 of the Drug Law Reform Act (L. 2004, Ch. 738) provides, in pertinent part, that the court should grant a resentencing application "unless substantial justice dictates that the application should be denied." The court, which expressly stated that defendant was eligible to be considered for resentencing, properly recognized the degree of discretion it possessed (compare e.g. People v Arana, 32 AD3d 305 [2006]) and providently exercised it. "The Legislature could have made resentencing automatic, or it could have required a finding of extraordinary circumstances in order to deny resentencing, but it did not do either" (People v Gonzalez, 29 AD3d 400 [2006], lv denied 7 NY3d 867 [2006]). Defendant was a large-scale narcotics and firearms dealer, and there is no basis for disturbing the court's determination that, in view of the seriousness of defendant's crimes, resentencing was not warranted.

M-2252 - People v Steven Vasquez

Motion seeking leave to enlarge record denied.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: JUNE 5, 2007

CLERK