People Ex Rel. Anthony Speights v. Mckoy

• Decision Date: 06 October 2011
• Citation: 88 A.D.3d 1039,2011 N.Y. Slip Op. 06962,930 N.Y.S.2d 498
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York ex rel. Anthony SPEIGHTS, Appellant,v.Jeff McKOY, as Superintendent of Greene Correctional Facility, Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

88 A.D.3d 1039
930 N.Y.S.2d 498
2011 N.Y. Slip Op. 06962

The PEOPLE of the State of New York ex rel. Anthony SPEIGHTS, Appellant,
v.
Jeff McKOY, as Superintendent of Greene Correctional Facility, Respondent.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

Oct. 6, 2011.

Anthony Speights, Newark, New Jersey, appellant pro se.Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (Frank Brady of counsel), for respondent.Before: PETERS, J.P., SPAIN, LAHTINEN, STEIN and EGAN JR., JJ.LAHTINEN, J.

[88 A.D.3d 1039] Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Teresi, J.), entered October 18, 2010 in Greene County, which denied petitioner's application for a writ of habeas corpus, in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 70, without a hearing.

Petitioner was convicted of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree, a class A–II felony, and was sentenced to a prison term of three years to life in 1991 ( see Penal Law § 220.18). He was released to parole supervision, which has since been revoked on multiple occasions. Most recently, he committed an armed robbery in Pennsylvania, prompting the Division of Parole to lodge a detainer warrant. [88 A.D.3d 1040] Petitioner was returned to New York in 2010, after which his parole was revoked and a time assessment of 10 months imposed. He then commenced this habeas corpus proceeding, arguing that his sentence terminated given a period from 1994 to 2000 when he enjoyed uninterrupted parole release. Supreme Court dismissed the petition, and this appeal ensued.

Preliminarily, petitioner has again been released to parole supervision, but this proceeding is not moot given that the maximum expiration date of his sentence remains affected by the issues presented ( see People ex rel. Forshey v. John, 75 A.D.3d 1100, 1101, 904 N.Y.S.2d 620 [2010]; People ex rel. Catts v. Haggett, 67 A.D.3d 1315, 1316, 888 N.Y.S.2d 804 [2009] ). We will accordingly consider this matter as a CPLR article 78 proceeding ( see CPLR 103[c]; People ex rel. Catts v. Haggett, 67 A.D.3d at 1316, 888 N.Y.S.2d 804), and now affirm.

Executive Law former § 259–j (3–a) directed the Division to “grant termination of sentence after three years of unrevoked presumptive release or parole to a person serving an indeterminate sentence for a class A felony offense defined in” Penal Law article 220.¹ As petitioner's lengthy period of parole release was revoked prior to the statute's 2005 enactment, however, the statute's provisions are...