| People v Perez |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 03494 [61 AD3d 946] |
| April 28, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Alfred Perez, Appellant. |
—[*1] Daniel M. Donovan, Jr., District Attorney, Staten Island, N.Y. (Morrie I. Kleinbart andMichael Shollar of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant from an order of the Supreme Court, Richmond County (Rienzi, J.),dated May 16, 2006, which, after a hearing, designated him a level three sex offender pursuant toCorrection Law article 6-C.
Ordered that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
After determining that the defendant was presumptively a level three sex offender under theSex Offender Registration Act (Correction Law art 6-C; hereinafter SORA), the Supreme Courtdenied the defendant's request to downwardly depart from that risk level to level two. "Adeparture from the presumptive risk level is generally warranted only where 'there exists anaggravating or mitigating factor of a kind or to a degree, not otherwise adequately taken intoaccount by the [SORA] guidelines' " (People v Taylor, 48 AD3d 775, 776 [2008], quoting Sex OffenderRegistration Act: Risk Assessment Guidelines and Commentary, at 10 [2006] [hereinafter theSORA Guidelines]; see People vTownsend, 60 AD3d 655 [2009]). The factors on which the defendant relies to supporthis argument that a downward departure was warranted are expressly addressed in the SORAGuidelines. Moreover, assessing points against the defendant based on his sexual contact withthe victim did not result in an over-assessment of the risk that the defendant posed to publicsafety. Accordingly, the Supreme Court did not improvidently exercise its discretion in decliningto depart from the defendant's presumptive risk level (see People v Guaman, 8 AD3d 545 [2004]). Prudenti, P.J.,Santucci, Florio and Belen, JJ., concur.