Opinion
570245/19
09-21-2021
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Carlos Jose Torres, Defendant-Appellant.
Unpublished Opinion
Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (James G. Clynes, J.), rendered February 5, 2019, convicting him, upon his plea of guilty, of disorderly conduct, and imposing sentence.
PRESENT: Edmead, P.J., Brigantti, Hagler, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Judgment of conviction (James G. Clynes, J.), rendered February 5, 2019, affirmed.
While recent legislation amended Penal Law § 265.01(1) to effectively decriminalize the possession of gravity knives, this law does not apply retroactively to defendant's February 2019 conviction (see L 2019, ch 34, § 1, eff May 30, 2019; see also People v Walker, 81 N.Y.2d 661, 667 [1993]) . Although the District Attorney has agreed in the past to reverse some pre-May 30, 2019 convictions for possession of a gravity knife "in the exercise of their broad prosecutorial discretion" (People v Caviness, 176 A.D.3d 522 [2019], lv denied 34 N.Y.3d 1076 [2019]), they refuse to do so here because this case involves something more than simple possession, and we decline to exercise our discretion in the interest of justice to grant such relief.