Property · MBE-tested
The People of the State of New York, Appellant, v. Jason L., Respondent
83 A.D.3d 1560921 N.Y.S.2d 603·New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division·2011·NY
Brief incoming
Hand-reviewed Bluebook brief (procedural posture, facts, issue, holding, reasoning, dissent) ships once the AI generation pipeline runs through this case. Join the waitlist to get notified when 1L briefs go live.
Opinion
The People of the State of New York, Appellant, v Jason L., Respondent.
[921 NYS2d 603]
[MAJORITY]
Appeal from an adjudication of the Livingston County Court (Robert B. Wiggins, J.), rendered April 13, 2010. Defendant was adjudicated a youthful offender upon his plea of guilty to burglary in the first degree.
It is hereby ordered that said appeal is unanimously dismissed.
Memorandum: The People purport to appeal from a sentence imposing a term of incarceration upon defendant’s plea of guilty of burglary in the first degree (Penal Law § 140.30 [2]), after County Court found that defendant was a youthful offender. The People contend that the court abused its discretion in granting defendant youthful offender status and that, as a result, the sentence imposed is invalid as a matter of law. We conclude that the appeal must be dismissed. “CPL 450.30 (2) authorizes the People to appeal from a sentence that is invalid as a matter of law” (People v Cosme, 80 NY2d 790, 792 [1992]), but that statute does not authorize the People to appeal from a youthful offender finding (see generally People v Calderon, 79 NY2d 61, 63-64, 67 [1992]). Indeed, upon finding that an individual is a youthful offender, “the court must direct that the conviction be deemed vacated and replaced by a youthful offender findingt,] and the court must sentence the defendant pursuant to section 60.02 of the penal law” (CPL 720.20 [3] [emphasis added]). “[T]he youthful offender finding and the youthful offender sentence imposed thereupon constitute a ‘youthful offender adjudication’ ” (Calderon, 79 NY2d at 65). Here, the People do not allege that the sentence of incarceration of lVs to 4 years is illegal. Rather, “in the guise of challenging the sentence imposed, the People are in essence attacking the validity of the defendant’s underlying [youthful offender finding,] . . . [which CPL 450.30 (2)] does not permit them to do” (Cosme, 80 NY2d at 792). Present—Scudder, P.J., Centra, Carni, Sconiers and Green, JJ.