People v. Ortiz

266 A.D.2d 47, 698 N.Y.S.2d 221, 1999 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11370

Opinion

—Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (John Byrne, J.), rendered September 17, 1997, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 4V2 to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly revoked its promise of a more lenient disposition upon successful completion of a drug program and sentenced defendant to a prison term where defendant absconded from the assigned residential drug program after only two and one-half weeks, and remained at large for almost five months thereafter, notifying no one (People v Johnson, 254 AD2d 49). The court was not obligated to conduct a hearing, sua sponte, when defendant claimed for the first time at sentencing that he had been threatened by another participant in the program. Such a circumstance, even if true, would not excuse defendant’s conduct. Concur — Nardelli, J. P., Tom, Mazzarelli, Wallach and Buckley, JJ.