NEITHER THE SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION TO WHICH DEFENDANT PLED GUILTY NOR THE PLEA ALLOCUTION INDICATED THE TWO SEXUAL OFFENSES OCCURRED AT DIFFERENT TIMES, CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES WERE NOT AUTHORIZED 3RD DEPT.
The Third Department, reversing County Court, determined the People did not demonstrate the two sexual offenses to which defendant pled guilty occurred at different times, therefore consecutive sentences should not have been imposed. The Third Department explained that only the accusatory instrument to which defendant pled (here a superior court information) and the plea allocution can be considered in this context. To the extent that a prior ruling suggested admissions in a pre-sentence report and victim statements could be considered to determine the facts of the offenses, that ruling is no longer to be followed:
Pursuant to Penal Law § 70.25 (2), “sentences 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” … . Thus, “to determine whether consecutive sentences are permitted, a court must first look to the statutory definitions of the crimes at issue to discern whether the actus reus elements overlap” … . “[E]ven if the statutory elements do overlap under either prong of the statute, the People may yet establish the legality of consecutive sentencing by showing that the acts or omissions committed by [the] defendant were separate and distinct acts” … . * * *
… [B]oth counts in the superior court information alleged that the acts occurred during the same time frame (between July 1, 2012 and July 31, 2012), neither count contained allegations about the specific acts constituting the crime, and there is no bill of particulars narrowing the specific type of sexual contact or sexual conduct alleged under either count … . Likewise, the plea allocution did not include admissions or particularity as to the acts committed that qualify as sexual contact or oral sexual conduct … . Given that the term “sexual contact” is broad enough to include all forms of “oral sexual conduct” … , the actus reus element could be the same for both offenses, that is, the same act could satisfy both crimes. As no specific date and time for each crime were alleged in the superior court information or plea allocution, and neither included underlying facts or alleged acts that were separate and distinct, consecutive sentences were not authorized … . People v Mangarillo, 2017 NY Slip Op 05872, 3rd Dept 7-27-17
CRIMINAL LAW (SENTENCING, NEITHER THE SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION TO WHICH DEFENDANT PLED GUILTY NOR THE PLEA ALLOCUTION INDICATED THE TWO SEXUAL OFFENSES OCCURRED AT THE SAME TIME, CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES WERE NOT AUTHORIZED 3RD DEPT)/SENTENCING (NEITHER THE SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION TO WHICH DEFENDANT PLED GUILTY NOR THE PLEA ALLOCUTION INDICATED THE TWO SEXUAL OFFENSES OCCURRED AT THE SAME TIME, CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES WERE NOT AUTHORIZED 3RD DEPT)