Sentence for Offenses Rising from Same Incident Must Be Concurrent

In determining the sentencing court had erroneously imposed consecutive sentences for offenses arising out of the same incident, the Fourth Department wrote:

“[S]entences imposed for two or more offenses may not run consecutively:(1) where a single act constitutes two offenses, or (2) where a single act constitutes one of the offenses and a material element of the other” (… Penal Law § 70.25 [2]). “The defendant benefits if either prong is present, and the prosecution’s burden is to countermand both prongs”…

Here, “the acts which constituted the crime of endangering the welfare of a child were not separate and distinct from the acts which constituted the crimes of” robbery and criminal mischief ….  As a result, the sentences imposed on the robbery and criminal mischief counts must run concurrently with the sentences imposed on the endangering the welfare of a child counts. Furthermore, the evidence establishes that, during his flight from the department store, defendant “floored” his vehicle in reverse with his driver’s side door open, striking the security guard as well as the vehicle parked beside his vehicle.  Those acts served as the basis for the criminal mischief count and for the “use of physical force” element of the robbery count (Penal Law § 160.00; see § 160.05), and thus the sentences imposed on the robbery and the criminal mischief counts must also run concurrently ….  People v Dekenipp, KA 11-00855, 204, 4th Dept, 4-26-13