People v McDonald
2007 NY Slip Op 06593 [43 AD3d 1207]
September 13, 2007
Appellate Division, Third Department
As corrected through Wednesday, November 7, 2007


The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v CarltonMcDonald, Appellant.

[*1]Richard W. Rich Jr., Elmira, for appellant.

John R. Trice, District Attorney, Elmira, for respondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Chemung County (Hayden, J.), renderedFebruary 6, 2004, upon a verdict convicting defendant of two counts of the crime of criminal saleof a controlled substance in the third degree.

After selling crack cocaine to an undercover informant on two separate occasions, defendantwas charged with two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree.Following a jury trial, he was convicted of both charges and was sentenced as a second felonyoffender to consecutive terms of 7½ to 15 years in prison. Defendant now appeals.

His sole contention is that the sentence is harsh and excessive. Based upon our review of therecord, we disagree. Defendant has an extensive criminal record dating back to his youth and thecharges at issue appear to have arisen from defendant's participation in a pattern of drug-relatedactivity. Under these circumstances, we cannot conclude that County Court abused its discretionin imposing consecutive sentences (seePeople v Davis, 4 AD3d 567, 568 [2004], lv denied 2 NY3d 798 [2004];People v Parker, 305 AD2d 871, 872 [2003], lv denied 100 NY2d 597 [2003]).We reach this conclusion notwithstanding the recent amendments to the Rockefeller Drug Laws,which defendant concedes were not in effect at the time he was sentenced.

Cardona, P.J., Mercure, Spain, Mugglin and Kane, JJ., concur. Ordered that the judgment isaffirmed.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.