The Second Department determined the sentences imposed for conspiracy and criminal possession of a controlled substance should run concurrently, not consecutively. The possession offenses, charged in a superior court information (SCI) to which defendant pled guilty, were the overt acts charged in the conspiracy count of a subsequent indictment:
As charged here, the underlying crimes were criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree and criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree. The offenses of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third and fourth degrees, to which the defendant pleaded guilty as charged under the SCI, were based on the same acts charged, in the indictment, as overt acts committed in furtherance of the conspiracy in the second degree count. As such, the actus reus of each of the offenses charged in the SCI was, by definition, “a material element” of the offense charged in the indictment … . Since the People failed to establish the legality of consecutive sentences by showing that the acts committed by the defendant were separate and distinct acts … , the County Court should have directed that the sentence imposed under the indictment run concurrently with the sentences imposed under the SCI. People v Rifino, 2016 NY Slip Op 06513, 2nd Dept 10-5-16
CRIMINAL LAW (SENTENCE FOR CONSPIRACY COUNT OF AN INDICTMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMPOSED CONCURRENTLY WITH SENTENCES FOR OVERT ACTS WITH WHICH DEFENDANT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN CHARGED IN A SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION)/SENTENCING (SENTENCE FOR CONSPIRACY COUNT OF AN INDICTMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMPOSED CONCURRENTLY WITH SENTENCES FOR OVERT ACTS WITH WHICH DEFENDANT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN CHARGED IN A SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION)