Opinion
September 21, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Renee White, J.).
Defendant's sentence to the maximum term was in accordance with his plea bargain, under which the People were to recommend whatever sentence they deemed warranted by defendant's cooperation, subject, of course, to the court's ultimate sentencing discretion ( see People v Garcia, 163 A.D.2d 218, lv denied 77 N.Y.2d 838; People v Farrar, 52 N.Y.2d 302, 305-306), which, we find, it properly exercised. Defendant's cooperation, while apparently sincere, resulted in no indictments, and the People recommended the maximum sentence. While indictments were not a condition for a recommendation of leniency, neither was it agreed that such a recommendation would be made in exchange for simple cooperation. Defendant was never promised a term less than the maximum, and, as the sentencing court stated, was given "appropriate leniency" by virtue of the fact that the sentence he received was less than the life imprisonment he faced on the charges of the indictment.
Concur — Rosenberger, J.P., Rubin, Asch, Williams and Mazzarelli, JJ.