People v. Benbow

2024 NY Slip Op 00384

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: January 30, 2024
• Docket: Ind. No. 01418/21 Appeal No. 1553 Case No. 2023-02912
• Status: Published

Opinion

People v Benbow (2024 NY Slip Op 00384)

People v Benbow

2024 NY Slip Op 00384

Decided on January 30, 2024

Appellate Division, First Department

Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided and Entered: January 30, 2024
Before: Singh, J.P., Kapnick, Kennedy, Higgitt, Michael, JJ.

Ind. No. 01418/21 Appeal No. 1553 Case No. 2023-02912

[*1]The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

v

James Benbow, Defendant-Appellant.

Joseph F. DeFelice, Kew Gardens, for appellant.

Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Molly Morgan of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Brendan T. Lantry, J.), rendered April 25, 2023, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him to a term of five years, unanimously reversed, on the law, the plea vacated, and the matter remanded for further proceedings.

As the People concede, the court's failure to advise defendant that any enhanced sentence imposed upon a violation of his plea agreement would include a term of

postrelease supervision rendered his plea invalid (see People v Catu, 4 NY3d 242 [2005]). Because we vacate the plea on this basis, we need not reach defendant's remaining contentions. THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER

OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: January 30, 2024