People v Harrell
2012 NY Slip Op 00665 [92 AD3d 974]
February 2, 2012
Appellate Division, Third Department
As corrected through Wednesday, March 28, 2012


The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Rodney R.Harrell, Appellant.

[*1]Andrew Kossover, Public Defender, Kingston (Mari Ann Connolly Sennett of counsel),for appellant.

D. Holley Carnright, District Attorney, Kingston (Joan Gudesblatt Lamb of counsel), forrespondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Ulster County (Williams Jr., J.), renderedMay 28, 2010, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of robbery in the thirddegree.

As a result of his participation in an early morning home invasion, defendant was charged inan indictment with robbery in the second degree and burglary in the second degree. Insatisfaction thereof, he pleaded guilty to robbery in the third degree. Under the terms of the pleaagreement, he was to be sentenced to the maximum of 21/3 to 7 years in prison.Defendant was sentenced accordingly and he now appeals.

Defendant's sole contention is that his sentence is harsh and excessive. Upon our review ofthe record, we disagree. The circumstances of the home invasion reveal that defendant awoke thevictim by knocking on the door of his home and, when defendant was told that the victim'sdaughter was not at home, he forced his way inside and demanded money. Defendant thenthreatened to harm the victim and his daughter unless the victim gave him money, which thevictim proceeded to do after driving to an ATM. Defendant's intimidating behavior, together withhis violent criminal history and agreement to the sentence imposed as part of the plea bargain,lead us to conclude that the sentence was appropriate. In sum, we find no extraordinarycircumstances nor any abuse of discretion warranting a reduction of the sentence in the interest ofjustice (see People v Rychel, 284 AD2d 662, 663 [2001]; see also People vWilliams, 231 AD2d 761 [1996]).[*2]

Peters, J.P., Spain, Stein and McCarthy, JJ., concur.Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.


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.