People v Smith
2016 NY Slip Op 00548 [135 AD3d 1248]
January 28, 2016
Appellate Division, Third Department
As corrected through Wednesday, March 4, 2015


[*1]
 The People of the State of New York, Respondent, vTige Smith, Jr., Appellant.

Susan Patnode, Rural Law Center of New York, Albany (Kelly L. Egan of counsel),for appellant.

Alexander Lesyk, Special Prosecutor, Norwood, for respondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of St. Lawrence County (Richards, J.),rendered August 18, 2014, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime ofcriminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.

Defendant was sentenced to a prison term of five years and two years of postreleasesupervision following his plea of guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance in thethird degree. His sole contention on appeal is that the sentence imposed is harsh andexcessive. We disagree. County Court made no sentence commitment and imposed aprison term that was less than the maximum permitted by statute (see Penal Law§ 70.70 [2] [a] [i]). Notably, while this matter was pending, defendantabsconded and was twice arrested and convicted upon a charge of assault in the thirddegree. Further, a review of the presentence investigation report reflects defendant'sextensive drug-related history. We find no abuse of discretion or extraordinarycircumstances warranting modification of the sentence in the interest of justice (see People v Lasanta, 89 AD3d1324 [2011]; People vVelazquez, 67 AD3d 1124, 1124 [2009], lv denied 14 NY3d 894[2010]; People v Williams,65 AD3d 1423, 1424 [2009]).

Peters, P.J., Garry, Egan Jr. and Lynch, JJ., concur. Ordered that the judgment isaffirmed.


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.