People v Thomason-Rose

2014 NY Slip Op 03603 [117 AD3d 548]

May 15, 2014

Appellate Division, First Department

As corrected through Wednesday, July 2, 2014

[*1]

The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Tremaine Thomason-Rose,Appellant.

Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (David J. Klem ofcounsel), for appellant.

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Yuval Simchi-Levi of counsel),for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Thomas Farber, J.), rendered October11, 2011, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of three counts of robbery in thesecond degree, and sentencing him to concurrent terms of 31/2 years,unanimously affirmed.

The determination of youthful offender status is a matter of discretion (People vDrayton, 39 NY2d 580, 584 [1976]). Here, the record demonstrates that the courtfully considered all of the mitigating factors set forth in a prepleading memorandum anddenied defense counsel's request to adjudicate defendant a youthful offender. We discernno reason to disturb the court's exercise of its discretion in denying youthful offendertreatment for two separate incidents, involving three different victims. In the firstrobbery, defendant and his codefendant followed an elderly couple onto an elevator, andproceeded to repeatedly punch both victims in the face, causing them both to sufferextensive bruising, before stealing the husband's cell phone and wallet and the wife'spurse. In the second robbery, just three hours later, the victim was kicked and punched,and sustained a puncture wound in his back, cuts to his arms and bruises, before hiswallet and cell phone were stolen. The police recovered a folding knife and a razor bladeat the scene. We note that defendant proceeded with this extensively negotiated pleabargain, even [*2]after being made aware that he wouldnot be sentenced as a youthful offender (see People v Bao Lin Xue, 30 AD3d 166 [1st Dept 2006]).Nor do we find the imposition of a five-year period of postrelease supervision to beexcessive. Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Andrias, DeGrasse, Manzanet-Daniels andFeinman, JJ.