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CONSIDERING ALL THE MITIGATING FACTORS, DEFENDANT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ADJUDICATED A YOUTHFUL OFFENDER (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing defendant’s assault conviction in the interest of justice and adjudicating defendant a youthful offender, in a full-fledged, comprehensive opinion by Justice Troutman, determined mitigating factors supported youthful offender status. Defendant was attacked by another high school student and didn’t realize the victim, a teacher, had intervened. The defendant injured the teacher’s hand with a knife. The Fourth Department went through all the so-called Cruikshank mitigating factors (People v Cruickshank, 105 AD2d 325, 334 [3d Dept 1985]) and further noted the sentencing court did not abuse its discretion by considering additional factors not mentioned in Cruikshank. All involved, including the prosecutor, the victim and the probation department, had recommended a youthful offender adjudication:

In addition to the Cruickshank factors, the parties raised and the court considered additional matters related to equity and discrimination. We reject defendant’s contention that the court abused its discretion in considering matters outside the Cruickshank factors. The applicable precedent states that the factors that must be considered “include” those nine factors … , and thus, as a matter of logic, those factors were never meant to be an exhaustive list of considerations. We conclude that matters of equity and discrimination are appropriate for sentencing courts to consider. Although we do not conclude that the court abused its discretion, we urge future courts to consider whether a defendant may be facing discrimination based on protected characteristics such as race or gender and to take an intersectional approach by considering the combined effect of the defendant’s specific characteristics and any bias that may arise therefrom … . Here, the prosecutor employed appropriate and effective restorative justice techniques and advocated for the result he believed just. We note that “prosecutors have ‘special responsibilities . . . to safeguard the integrity of criminal proceedings and fairness in the criminal process’ ” … , and this prosecutor deserves to be commended for discharging those responsibilities here. People v Z.H., 2020 NY Slip Op 07824,, Fourth Dept 12-23-20

 

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