Opinion
184 1020/13.
02-09-2016
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. CHRISTOPHER P., Defendant–Appellant.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Laura Boyd of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Brian R. Pouliot of counsel), for respondent.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Laura Boyd of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Brian R. Pouliot of counsel), for respondent.
Opinion
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Eduardo Padro, J.), rendered September 5, 2014, as amended September 11, 2014, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of robbery in the first degree, adjudicating him a youthful offender, and sentencing to a term of 1? to 4 years, to run consecutively to a sentence imposed in Bronx County on May 5, 2014, unanimously modified, on the law, to the extent of directing that the sentence run concurrently with the Bronx sentence, and otherwise affirmed.
By adjudicating defendant a youthful offender and sentencing him to a term of 1? to 4 years, to run consecutively to a sentence of one to three years on another YO adjudication, the court effectively imposed an aggregate term in excess of four years for two YO adjudications. The imposition of consecutive terms with an aggregate term of more than the normal YO maximum of four years “is inconsistent with the underlying concept of youthful offender treatment and it is unrealistic to conclude that one eligible for such treatment requires prolonged confinement to achieve the objectives of the legislation” (People v. David H., 70 A.D.2d 205, 207, 420 N.Y.S.2d 519 3d Dept.1978; accord People v. Jorge N.T., 70 A.D.3d 1456, 1457–1458, 894 N.Y.S.2d 625 4th Dept.2010, lv. denied 14 N.Y.3d 889, 903 N.Y.S.2d 777, 929 N.E.2d 1012 2010; People v. Matthew John G., 60 A.D.2d 919, 401 N.Y.S.2d 575 2d Dept.1978 ).