| People v Garren |
| 2010 NY Slip Op 05289 [74 AD3d 1578] |
| June 17, 2010 |
| Appellate Division, Third Department |
| The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Jason R.Garren, Appellant. |
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Appeals (1) from a judgment of the County Court of Broome County (Smith, J.), renderedJanuary 11, 2007, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crimes of possessing asexual performance by a child (five counts) and promoting a sexual performance by a child (fourcounts), and (2) from a judgment of said court, rendered March 26, 2008, (i) convictingdefendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of failure to register under the Sex OffenderRegistration Act and of violating the terms of his probation, and (ii) which revoked defendant'sprobation and imposed a sentence of imprisonment.
Defendant pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with numerous crimes arising out ofhis downloading of child pornography from the Internet. County Court sentenced him to a jailterm of six months and probation of 10 years, which was within the agreed upon sentencingrange. As a result of that conviction, defendant was subject to the Sex Offender Registration Act(see Correction Law art 6-C). Following his release from jail, he was charged in anindictment with failing to register a change of address as required by the act, which alsoconstituted a violation of his probation. Defendant pleaded guilty to both the probation violationand the indictment, and was sentenced, as agreed, to concurrent prison terms of1
Appellate counsel requests that he be relieved of his assignment with respect to both appeals,arguing that no nonfrivolous issues exist to be raised upon appeal. Having reviewed [*2]counsel's brief, the People's response, and defendant's pro sesubmission, we disagree. There is at least one issue of arguable merit in each appeal pertaining tothe severity of the sentences imposed. Without passing judgment on the ultimate merit of thatissue, we accordingly grant counsel's applications to withdraw and assign new counsel to addressthat issue and any other issues that the record may disclose (see People v Lowe, 43 AD3d 1204, 1204-1205 [2007]; People v Walker, 31 AD3d 804,804 [2006]).
Mercure, J.P., Spain, Malone Jr., Stein and Garry, JJ., concur. Ordered that the decision iswithheld, application to be relieved of assignment granted and new counsel to be assigned.