From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

People v. Griffin

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department
Sep 26, 2014
120 A.D.3d 1529 (N.Y. App. Div. 2014)

Opinion

847 KA 10-02245

09-26-2014

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Davon GRIFFIN, Defendant–Appellant.

 Linda M. Campbell, Syracuse, for Defendant–Appellant. William J. Fitzpatrick, District Attorney, Syracuse (Misha A. Coulson of Counsel), for Respondent.


Linda M. Campbell, Syracuse, for Defendant–Appellant.

William J. Fitzpatrick, District Attorney, Syracuse (Misha A. Coulson of Counsel), for Respondent.

PRESENT: SCUDDER, P.J., SMITH, CENTRA, FAHEY, and PERADOTTO, JJ.

Opinion

MEMORANDUM:Defendant was convicted upon a plea of guilty of manslaughter in the first degree (Penal Law § 125.20[1] ). On a prior appeal, we affirmed the judgment of conviction (People v. Griffin, 24 A.D.3d 1316, 805 N.Y.S.2d 868, lv. denied 6 N.Y.3d 813, 812 N.Y.S.2d 453, 845 N.E.2d 1284 ), but we subsequently granted defendant's motion for a writ of error coram nobis (People v. Griffin, 59 A.D.3d 1106, 872 N.Y.S.2d 302 ). Upon reviewing the appeal de novo, we agreed with defendant that County Court erred in sentencing him as a first felony offender after “it became apparent at sentencing that defendant had a prior felony conviction” (People v. Griffin, 72 A.D.3d 1496, 1497, 899 N.Y.S.2d 771 ). Inasmuch as “ ‘[i]t is illegal to sentence a known predicate felon as a first offender,’ ” we modified the judgment by vacating the sentence, and we remitted the matter for resentencing pursuant to CPL 400.21 (id. ). On remittal, the court sentenced defendant as a second felony offender to a determinate term of incarceration of 10 years, with a period of postrelease supervision of five years.

As defendant correctly concedes, his contention that County Court erred in failing to order an updated presentence report is unpreserved for our review “inasmuch as he never requested such an update, objected to the presentence report at the resentencing, or moved to vacate the resentencing on that ground” (People v. Lard, 71 A.D.3d 1464, 1465, 898 N.Y.S.2d 390, lv. denied 14 N.Y.3d 889, 903 N.Y.S.2d 777, 929 N.E.2d 1012 ; see People v. Campbell, 111 A.D.3d 1253, 1253, 974 N.Y.S.2d 205, lv. denied 23 N.Y.3d 1018, 992 N.Y.S.2d 801, 6 N.E.3d 1281 [June 9, 2014] ; People v. Stachnik, 101 A.D.3d 1590, 1591–1592, 956 N.Y.S.2d 777, lv. denied 20 N.Y.3d 1104, 965 N.Y.S.2d 800, 988 N.E.2d 538 ). In any event, “the decision whether to obtain an updated [presentence] report at resentencing is a matter resting in the sound discretion of the sentencing [court]” (People v. Kuey, 83 N.Y.2d 278, 282, 609 N.Y.S.2d 568, 631 N.E.2d 574 ). “Where, as here, [the] defendant has been continually incarcerated between the time of the initial sentencing and resentencing, to require an update ... does not advance the purpose of CPL 390.20(1) ” (Lard, 71 A.D.3d at 1465, 898 N.Y.S.2d 390 [internal quotation marks omitted]; see Campbell, 111 A.D.3d at 1253–1254, 974 N.Y.S.2d 205 ).

Finally, we reject defendant's contention that he was denied effective assistance of counsel at the resentencing, inasmuch as defense counsel was able to secure an advantageous resentence for defendant (see People v. Cobado, 104 A.D.3d 1322, 1323, 960 N.Y.S.2d 843 ; see generally People v. Baldi, 54 N.Y.2d 137, 147, 444 N.Y.S.2d 893, 429 N.E.2d 400 ). Although the period of postrelease supervision was increased from 2 ½ years to 5 years, the period of incarceration was reduced from 15 years to 10 years.

It is hereby ORDERED that the resentence so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.


Summaries of

People v. Griffin

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department
Sep 26, 2014
120 A.D.3d 1529 (N.Y. App. Div. 2014)
Case details for

People v. Griffin

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, RESPONDENT, v. DAVON GRIFFIN…

Court:SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department

Date published: Sep 26, 2014

Citations

120 A.D.3d 1529 (N.Y. App. Div. 2014)
993 N.Y.S.2d 198
2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 6391

Citing Cases

People v. Caswell

We reject defendant's further contention in his main brief that the court erred by failing to order a new…

People v. Caswell

As an initial matter, any such contention is unpreserved for our review inasmuch as defendant did not request…