Opinion
499 KA 19-00487
08-20-2020
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Jeffrey MILLER, Defendant-Appellant.
ANDREW D. CORREIA, PUBLIC DEFENDER, LYONS (BRIDGET L. FIELD OF COUNSEL), FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. MICHAEL D. CALARCO, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, LYONS, FOR RESPONDENT.
ANDREW D. CORREIA, PUBLIC DEFENDER, LYONS (BRIDGET L. FIELD OF COUNSEL), FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.
MICHAEL D. CALARCO, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, LYONS, FOR RESPONDENT.
PRESENT: WHALEN, P.J., SMITH, CARNI, NEMOYER, AND CURRAN, JJ.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.
Memorandum: Defendant appeals from an order determining that he is a level three risk pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act ( [SORA] Correction Law § 168 et seq. ). In August 1994 in the State of Virginia, defendant was convicted following his plea of guilty of rape ( Va Code Ann § 18.2-61 ) and malicious wounding (§ 18.2-51), after his conviction following a trial of those crimes (criminal trial) was reversed based on prosecutorial misconduct. Defendant had attacked his sister's roommate with a tire iron, raped her, and then forced her to dress, kneel, and lean over, whereupon he began striking the back of her head with the tire iron.
We reject defendant's contention that County Court abused its discretion in assessing points against him under risk factors 7, 12, and 13 of the risk assessment instrument (RAI). The court properly assessed 20 points under risk factor 7 inasmuch as the People established by clear and convincing evidence that defendant and the victim had met only the day before the offenses, had only brief interactions, and thus were strangers (see Sex Offender Registration Act: Risk Assessment Guidelines and Commentary at 12 and n 8 [2006] [Guidelines]; see also People v. Lewis , 178 A.D.3d 864, 865, 111 N.Y.S.3d 868 [2d Dept. 2019], lv denied 35 N.Y.3d 902, 2020 WL 2071320 [2020] ; People v. Mabee , 69 A.D.3d 820, 820, 893 N.Y.S.2d 585 [2d Dept. 2010], lv denied 15 N.Y.3d 703, 2010 WL 2572036 [2010] ). Indeed, defendant did not even know the victim's name and referred to her in his criminal trial testimony as "the girl" and "that girl" (see People v. Middlemiss , 153 A.D.3d 1096, 1097, 60 N.Y.S.3d 593 [3d Dept. 2017], lv denied 30 N.Y.3d 906, 2017 WL 5615862 [2017] ). The court also properly assessed 10 points under risk factor 12 because the People presented clear and convincing evidence that defendant later claimed that the sexual activity with the victim was consensual and that he was not responsible for his actions because he was overcome with an irresistible impulse to harm the victim (see generally Correction Law § 168-n [3] ; People v. Havens , 144 A.D.3d 1632, 1633, 42 N.Y.S.3d 708 [4th Dept. 2016], lv denied 29 N.Y.3d 901, 2017 WL 1093982 [2017] ; People v. Kyle , 64 A.D.3d 1177, 1178, 881 N.Y.S.2d 759 [4th Dept. 2009], lv denied 13 N.Y.3d 709, 2009 WL 3379124 [2009] ). Additionally, the court properly assessed 10 points under risk factor 13. The People established that defendant's behavior while being supervised on probation, including his probation violation for disobeying his probation officer's directive to refrain from contacting anyone at a volunteer organization from which defendant had been banned, was unsatisfactory (see generally People v. Carlberg , 145 A.D.3d 1646, 1647, 45 N.Y.S.3d 729 [4th Dept. 2016] ; People v. Young , 108 A.D.3d 1232, 1233, 969 N.Y.S.2d 372 [4th Dept. 2013], lv denied 22 N.Y.3d 853, 2013 WL 5658386 [2013], rearg denied 22 N.Y.3d 1036, 981 N.Y.S.2d 351, 4 N.E.3d 362 [2013] ). Consequently, we conclude that the court properly assessed 110 points on defendant's RAI, making him a presumptive level three risk.
Contrary to defendant's further contention, the People also established by clear and convincing evidence the applicability of the Guidelines' fourth override, i.e., that there has been "a clinical assessment that the offender has a psychological, physical, or organic abnormality that decreases his [or her] ability to control impulsive sexual behavior" (Guidelines at 4). During the criminal trial, defendant's expert psychiatrist testified that defendant suffered from an "organic mental syndrome" or "organic personality syndrome," which was the basis for defendant's defense of insanity due to an irresistible impulse. The psychiatrist's clinical assessment was corroborated by defendant's criminal trial testimony that he could not stop himself from committing the offenses against the victim. That override automatically results in a presumptive level three designation (see People v. Lagville , 136 A.D.3d 1005, 1006, 26 N.Y.S.3d 316 [2d Dept. 2016] ; see also People v. Cobb , 141 A.D.3d 1174, 1175, 34 N.Y.S.3d 923 [4th Dept. 2016] ; Guidelines at 3-4). We have examined defendant's remaining contention and conclude that it does not warrant modification or reversal of the order.