People v Leopold
2010 NY Slip Op 00212 [13 NY3d 923]
January 14, 2010
Court of Appeals
As corrected through Wednesday, March 10, 2010


[*1]
The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Leonard A. Leopold, Appellant.

Decided January 14, 2010

People v Leopold, 63 AD3d 1631, reversed.

APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL

Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc., Buffalo (Vincent F. Gugino and David C. Schopp of counsel), for appellant.

Frank A. Sedita, III, District Attorney, Buffalo (Matthew B. Powers and Donna A. Milling of counsel), for respondent.

{**13 NY3d at 924} OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, with costs, and the case remitted to Supreme Court for further proceedings in accordance with this memorandum.

Correction Law § 168-n (3) requires the court fixing a sex offender's risk level [*2]determination to "render an order setting forth . . . the findings of fact and conclusions of law on which the determinations are based." Here, neither the Supreme Court nor the Appellate Division order set forth the findings of fact and conclusions of law justifying the risk level determination. We therefore remit this case to Supreme Court to specify its findings of fact and conclusions of law (see People v Smith, 11 NY3d 797, 798 [2008]).

Chief Judge Lippman and Judges Ciparick, Graffeo, Read, Smith, Pigott and Jones concur in memorandum.

On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.11 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals (22 NYCRR 500.11), order reversed, etc.


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.