From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

People v. Schwartz

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
May 25, 2004
7 A.D.3d 445 (N.Y. App. Div. 2004)

Opinion

3724.

Decided May 25, 2004.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Charles H. Solomon, J.), rendered August 23, 2002, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of four counts of sodomy in the third degree, and sentencing him to three concurrent terms of 1 to 4 years, consecutive to an additional term of 1 to 4 years, unanimously affirmed.

Bennett M. Epstein, New York, for appellant.

Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Ellen Sue Handman of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Mazzarelli, J.P., Saxe, Sullivan, Marlow, Gonzalez, JJ.


The indictment was not jurisdictionally defective. Each count alleged a single incident falling within a specific one-month period, which provided defendant with fair notice of the charges and was reasonable given all the surrounding circumstances including the victim's age and the passage of time ( see People v. Morris, 61 N.Y.2d 290; People v. Latouche, 303 A.D.2d 246, lv denied 100 N.Y.2d 595).

Defendant received effective assistance of counsel in connection with his plea and sentence ( see People v. Ford, 86 N.Y.2d 397, 404; see also Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52). Since each count in the indictment charged the commission of a single crime, none of the counts was duplicitous ( see CPL 200.30), and counsel was not constitutionally obligated to make a motion raising that issue. There was nothing in the People's bill of particulars and related documents, or in their application to introduce uncharged crimes, that conceded or even implied that any of the counts of the indictment was duplicitous. Unlike the situation in People v. Beauchamp ( 74 N.Y.2d 639), there were no particulars alleging that each sexual act charged in a single count occurred as a continuous course of conduct.

The record, including the commitment sheet, establishes that the court sentenced defendant on each of the counts to which he pleaded guilty, as required by CPL 380.20 ( see People v. Jones, 207 A.D.2d 745, lv denied 85 N.Y.2d 863). We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.

Defendant's remaining contentions are unpreserved and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. Were we to review these claims, we would reject them.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.


Summaries of

People v. Schwartz

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
May 25, 2004
7 A.D.3d 445 (N.Y. App. Div. 2004)
Case details for

People v. Schwartz

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. JERROLD SCHWARTZ…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: May 25, 2004

Citations

7 A.D.3d 445 (N.Y. App. Div. 2004)
776 N.Y.S.2d 800

Citing Cases

Schwartz v. Connell

(Pet.'s App. Br., attached as Ex. A to Resp.'s Opp'n. Mem.) The Appellate Division, First Department,…

People v. Sinha

Nor was the count of the indictment under which defendant was convicted of third-degree sodomy duplicitous.…