Re-Sentencing Under Drug Law Reform Act—Court Does Not Have Authority to Make Sentences Concurrent if Original Sentences Consecutive
The Court of Appeals ruled that when re-sentencing under the Drug Law Reform Act of 2009 (DLRA–Criminal Procedure Law 440.46), the sentencing court can not alter multiple drug felony convictions originally imposed consecutively so that they run concurrently. When the court imposes a determinate sentence under the DLRA “[s]uch resentencing constitutes ‘alteration of the existing sentence as authorized by law’ …, rather than imposition of a new sentence or of an additional term of imprisonment” [see Criminal Procedure Law 70.25]. Therefore the re-sentencing court does not have the power to issue concurrent sentences when the original sentences were consecutive. People v Norris, No. 39, CtApp 3-21-13