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COCAINE-POSSESSION OFFENSES CHARGED IN THE SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION (SCI) WERE NOT LESSER INCLUDED OFFENSES OF THE THE COCAINE-POSSESSION OFFENSE CHARGED IN THE FELONY COMLAINTS; SCI IS JURISDICTIONALLY DEFECTIVE.

The Third Department determined the superior court informations (SCI’s) to which defendant pled guilty were jurisdictionally defective because neither SCI charged a lesser included offense of the offense charged in the original felony complaints. If it is possible, under any set of facts, to commit the greater offense but not the lesser, the lesser is not a lesser included offense. The offenses at issue here involved the possession of cocaine:

“A crime is a lesser included offense of a charge of a higher degree only when in all circumstances, not only in those presented in the particular case, it is impossible to commit the greater crime without concomitantly, by the very same conduct, committing the lesser offense” … . To be guilty of the offense charged in the SCI, a defendant must attempt to “knowingly and unlawfully possess cocaine” that weighs “[500] milligrams or more” (Penal Law §§ 110.00, 220.06 [5]). The first felony complaint charged defendant with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, which requires proof of knowing, unlawful possession of substances containing narcotic drugs that have “an aggregate weight of one-half ounce or more” (Penal Law § 220.16 [12]). Considered in the abstract, it is possible to possess or attempt to possess one-half ounce of a mixture of cocaine and some other substance in which the proportion of cocaine is less than 500 milligrams. Thus, it is possible to commit criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree without also committing attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, and the offense charged in the SCI is not a lesser included offense of the crime charged in the first felony complaint.

The second felony complaint charged defendant with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, which is committed when a person “knowingly and unlawfully possesses a controlled substance with intent to sell it” (Penal Law § 220.06 [1]). It is possible to possess cocaine with the intent to sell it while not concurrently possessing cocaine weighing more than 500 milligrams, or attempting to do so, as required to commit the crime charged in the SCI (see Penal Law §§ 110.00, 220.06 [5]). Thus, the crime charged in the SCI is not a lesser included offense of the crime charged in the second felony complaint … . People v Seals, 2016 NY Slip Op 00065, 3rd Dept 1-7-16

CRIMINAL LAW (SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION JURISDICTIONALLY DEFECTIVE, OFFENSES WERE NOT LESSER INCLUDEDS)/SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATIONS (JURISDICTIONALLY DEFECTIVE, OFFENSES NOT LESSER INCLUDEDS)/COCAINE OFFENSES (SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION JURISDICTIONALLY DEFECTIVE, OFFENSES NOT LESSER INCLUDEDS)

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