People v Miller
2010 NY Slip Op 06937 [77 AD3d 1386]
October 1, 2010
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
As corrected through Wednesday, December 15, 2010


The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Andrew J. Miller,Appellant.

[*1]Wyoming County-Attica Legal Aid Bureau, Inc., Livingston County Conflict Defenders,Warsaw (Neal J. Mahoney of counsel), for defendant-appellant.

Thomas E. Moran, District Attorney, Geneseo (Eric R. Schiener of counsel), forrespondent.

Appeal from an order of the Livingston County Court (Robert B. Wiggins, J.), entered November2, 2007. The order determined that defendant is a level two risk pursuant to the Sex OffenderRegistration Act.

It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.

Memorandum: Defendant appeals from an order determining that he is a level two risk pursuant tothe Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) (Correction Law § 168 et seq.). We rejectthe contention of defendant that County Court erred in assessing 10 points against him under risk factor12, for his failure to accept responsibility. Although defendant pleaded guilty, the presentence reportindicates that he stated that the 11-year-old victim, who had been vomiting into a toilet when defendantentered the bathroom, "grabbed him and stated that she wanted to [have sex]" and that the victimrepeated that request several times. Defendant further claimed that he replied, "No way," and left thehouse, that nothing happened with the victim and that he pleaded guilty only to avoid the risk of losing attrial. Those statements constituted clear and convincing evidence of defendant's failure to acceptresponsibility for the crime (see People vFerrer, 69 AD3d 513, 515 [2010], lv denied 14 NY3d 709 [2010]; People v Murphy, 68 AD3d 832[2009], lv dismissed 14 NY3d 812 [2010]; People v Lerch, 66 AD3d 1088 [2009], lv denied 13 NY3d715 [2010]). Although the statements were made approximately 12 years prior to the court's SORAdetermination, the argument of defendant at the SORA hearing that he should be assessed points onlyunder risk factor two, for contact under clothing, illustrates his continuing failure to accept responsibilityfor his conduct.

Defendant further contends that the court erred in assessing points against him under risk factor 14,for his supervision following release from prison, based on the statement in the presentence report thatdefendant could benefit from sex offender and mental health counseling. We reject that contention.There is no evidence in the record demonstrating that the sentencing court ordered specializedsupervision when imposing the sentence of probation and, at the time the court made the SORA [*2]determination, defendant was no longer under any supervision (see generally People v Leeks, 43 AD3d1251 [2007]).

Finally, defendant failed to preserve for our review his contention that the application of SORA tohim 12 years after his conviction was penal in nature and violated his double jeopardy rights (see generally People v McElhearn, 56AD3d 978, 978-979 [2008], lv denied 13 NY3d 706 [2009]; People v McLean, 55 AD3d 973[2008]). In any event, that contention lacks merit inasmuch as SORA proceedings are not penal innature, and thus they are not subject to the prohibition against double jeopardy (see generally People v Szwalla, 61 AD3d1289, 1290 [2009]). Present—Scudder, P.J., Centra, Peradotto, Sconiers and Pine, JJ.


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.