WHERE A DEFENDANT HAS BEEN RESENTENCED BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL SENTENCE WAS ILLEGAL, THE DATE OF THE ORIGINAL SENTENCE CONTROLS FOR DETERMINATION OF PREDICATE FELONY STATUS (CT APP).

The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Stein, over a three-judge dissent, reversing the Appellate Division, determined that, where a defendant has been resentenced because the original sentence was illegal, the date of the original sentence, not the subsequent resentence, controls for the purpose of determining predicate felony status:

… [D]efendant’s proffered interpretation of Penal Law § 70.06 is not supported by the plain language of that provision, its well-established legislative purpose, or our precedent. Therefore, because the original sentences on defendant’s 1989 convictions were imposed before commission of the present felony, the sequentiality requirement of the predicate felony statute was satisfied, and defendant was properly sentenced as a second felony offender. People v Thomas, 2019 NY Slip Op 01167, CtApp 2-19-19