People v. Danton

27 Misc. 3d 638
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 2, 2010
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 27 Misc. 3d 638 (People v. Danton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Danton, 27 Misc. 3d 638 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Marcy L. Kahn, J.

Defendants in the three above-captioned cases were each convicted in separate prosecutions of class B drug felonies and received indeterminate terms of imprisonment in accordance with the laws in effect prior to January 13, 2005. They now move for resentencing pursuant to the Drug ¡Law Reform Act of 2009 (DLRA-3) (L 2009, ch 56, part AAA, § 9 [codified at CPL 440.46]). While conceding that each defendant satisfies the general statutory eligibility criteria of Criminal Procedure Law § 440.46 (1), the People have nonetheless opposed the applications in each case, arguing that the defendant is ineligible for resentencing under the “look-back” provision of CPL 440.46 (5) (a), barring relief for defendants with previous convictions “within the preceding ten years” of “exclusion offenses.” (Id.) Because each of these cases requires this court to resolve the [640]*640identical issue of the proper interpretation of the “look-back” provision of CPL 440.46 (5) (a), this court has consolidated the three cases for purpose of determining this issue only.1

I. Issue Presented

For present purposes, the critical language of the newly enacted statute regarding eligibility for resentencing of persons convicted under the former law of class B drug felony offenses states:

“1. Any person in the custody of the department of correctional services convicted of a class B felony offense defined in article two hundred twenty of the penal law which was committed prior to January thirteenth, two thousand five, who is serving an indeterminate sentence with a maximum term of more than three years, may, except as provided in subdivision five of this section, upon notice to the appropriate district attorney, apply to be resentenced to a determinate sentence in accordance with sections 60.04 and 70.70 of the penal law in the court which imposed the sentence. . . .
“5. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person who is serving a sentence on a conviction for or has a predicate felony conviction for an exclusion offense. For purposes of this subdivision, an ‘exclusion offense’ is:
“(a) a crime for which the person was previously convicted within the preceding ten years, excluding any time during which the offender was incarcerated for any reason between the time of commission of the previous felony and the time of commission of the present felony, which was: (i) a violent felony offense as defined in section 70.02 of the penal law . . . .” (CPL 440.46 [1], [5] [a].)

Thus, as relevant here, CPL 440.46 (5) (a) provides that in order to be eligible for DLRA-3 resentencing, the defendant must not have had a “predicate felony conviction” within “the preceding ten years” for an “exclusion offense.”

In each of these cases, the defendant had incurred a conviction for a violent felony offense prior to his conviction for the [641]*641instant class B drug felony. The parties in each case take opposing views on whether the prior violent felony conviction is an “exclusion offense,” differing on the construction which the court should place on the look-back language of CPL 440.46 (5) (a) to determine whether the defendant in question was previously convicted of his violent felony offense “within the preceding ten years.”

The defendants each maintain that the look-back period is 10 years preceding the date of filing of the resentencing application, excluding any time during which the defendant was incarcerated for any reason between the date of the commission of the previous violent felony and the date of commission of the present felony. The People’s view is that the look-back period comprises the 10 years preceding the date of commission of the instant drug felony, similarly excluding any incarceration time between the commission of the previous potential exclusion offense and the commission of the instant offense.

II. Legal Analysis

In interpreting a statute, “[t]he starting point is always to look to the language itself and where the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, courts must give effect to its plain meaning.” (Fultz v Economakis, 10 NY3d 542, 547 [2008] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted].) Only where the language of a statute “leaves its purpose and intent uncertain” should a court attempt to construe the enactment. (McKinney’s Cons Laws of NY, Book 1, Statutes § 76, Comment.)

In this case, the language of the look-back provision is susceptible of multiple interpretations. For example, the “preceding ten years” could be measured from the date of filing of the resentencing application, as the defendants maintain, from the date of the commission of the present felony, as both of the prosecutors’ offices2 argue, or from the effective date of the statute, October 7, 2009. Further, due to the recency of the enactment, there is as yet no controlling appellate decisional law which resolves the debate.3 Therefore, this court will employ established principles of statutory construction to determine the meaning of the subject language.

[642]*642A. Natural Meaning

The principles governing statutory construction provide that under such circumstances, statutory language should be interpreted according to its natural meaning (Statutes § 94, Comment [“The language of a statute is generally construed according to its natural and most obvious sense, without resorting to an artificial or forced construction”]). In this instance, the natural and obvious meaning of “within the preceding ten years” is the 10-year period immediately preceding the date of filing of the resentencing application. There are additional reasons for employing this construction which emerge from application of other principles of statutory interpretation, however.

B. Legislative History

“The primary consideration of the courts in the construction of statutes is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the Legislature.” (Statutes § 92 [a].) While a court should ordinarily look to the legislative history of an ambiguous statute to discern the drafters’ intent (see Statutes §§ 124, 125), in this case, the statute was enacted virtually without any such revelatory historical record. (See People v Brown at *4 [observing the Bill Jacket for the DLRA-3 to contain only the bill itself, due to its enactment as part of budget bill, and to lack the typical submissions from interested advocacy groups, government agencies and legislators].) Such comments as were made on the bill, moreover, did not address the meaning of the look-back provision for exclusion offenses in resentencing. (See People v Gilberto Sosa, indictment No. 7375/02, reply letter of Carol A. Zeldin, Esq., dated Jan. 7, 2009, supporting drug law resentencing, exhibit A [Assembly Debate transcripts, L 2009, ch 56 (Mar. 31, 2009)]; Bill Jacket, L 2009, ch 56.) Thus, the legislative history offers no insight as to the Legislature’s intention.

C. Context of CPL 440.46 within the DLRA Legislation

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Related

People v. Danton
36 Misc. 3d 898 (New York Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Santana
38 Misc. 3d 315 (New York Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Suya
32 Misc. 3d 633 (New York Supreme Court, 2011)
People v. Williams
82 A.D.3d 796 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2011)
People v. Sosa
81 A.D.3d 464 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2011)
People v. Jordan
28 Misc. 3d 708 (New York Supreme Court, 2010)

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Bluebook (online)
27 Misc. 3d 638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-danton-nysupct-2010.