People v. Alfair

139 A.D.3d 531, 30 N.Y.S.3d 549

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: May 19, 2016
• Docket: 1181 1970/09
• Status: Published

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Gregory Carro, J.), rendered February 13, 2013, as amended July 22, 2013, convicting defendant, upon her plea of guilty, of attempted criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, and sentencing her, as a second felony offender, to a term of IV2 to 3 years, unanimously affirmed.

Although defendant, who was arrested for a federal drug felony one week after the end of a two-year period in which she was required to “stay out of trouble” (and was subsequently convicted), was in technical compliance with her plea agreement, the court properly exercised its discretion when it declined to adhere to its conditional promise to replace the plea with a misdemeanor disposition, and instead gave defendant the opportunity to withdraw her plea. “[P]roper sentencing criteria counseled imposition of a different sanction than that agreed to originally,” and defendant was “not entitled to specific performance of the original sentencing representations” (People v Schultz, 73 NY2d 757, 758 [1988]; cf. People v McConnell, 49 NY2d 340 [1980]).

Concur — Sweeny, J.P., Renwick, Andrias, Kapnick and Kahn, JJ.