Opinion
13433 Ind. No. 4688/17 Case No. 2019-5243
03-25-2021
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Robert JOHNSON, Defendant–Appellant.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York ( Claudia Trupp of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York ( Michael D. Tarbutton of counsel), for respondent.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York ( Claudia Trupp of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York ( Michael D. Tarbutton of counsel), for respondent.
Manzanet–Daniels, J.P., Kern, Moulton, Shulman, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Ann E. Scherzer, J. at plea; Ellen N. Biben, J. at sentencing), rendered April 16, 2019, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of robbery in the third degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 2½ years to 5 years, unanimously modified, as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, to the extent of vacating the weapon possession conviction and dismissing that count of the indictment, and otherwise affirmed.
The People, in the exercise of their broad prosecutorial discretion, have agreed that the weapon charge should be dismissed under the particular circumstances of this case and in light of recent legislation amending Penal Law § 265.01 to effectively decriminalize the simple possession of gravity knives, notwithstanding that this amendment does not apply retroactively. We find it unnecessary to reach any other issues ( see People v. Caviness, 176 A.D.3d 522, 108 N.Y.S.3d 838 [1st Dept. 2019], lv denied 34 N.Y.3d 1076, 116 N.Y.S.3d 168, 139 N.E.3d 826 [2019] ).
We perceive no basis for reducing the remaining sentence.