People v. Hamilton

• Decision Date: 07 June 2005
• Citation: 830 N.E.2d 306,4 N.Y.3d 654
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Abdel HAMILTON, Appellant.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 306

830 N.E.2d 306

4 N.Y.3d 654

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Abdel HAMILTON, Appellant.

Court of Appeals of New York.

June 7, 2005.

Office of the Appellate Defender, New York City (Melissa Rothstein and Richard M. Greenberg of counsel), for appellant.

Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Yael V. Levy, Joseph N. Ferdenzi and Nancy D. Killian of counsel), for respondent.

OPINION OF THE COURT

ROSENBLATT, J.

Concluding that he shot two people, killing one of them, a Supreme Court jury found defendant guilty of manslaughter in the first degree (Penal Law § 125.20[1]), assault in the first degree (Penal Law § 120.10 [3]), criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (Penal Law § 265.03), and reckless endangerment in the first degree (Penal Law § 120.25). We hold that the trial court violated Penal Law § 70.25(2) when it imposed defendant's weapon possession sentence to run consecutively with his sentences for manslaughter and assault.

The People's evidence came largely from Anthony Smith, Anthony Bunch and Albert Hale. They testified that while on a Bronx street, they encountered Hubert Roberts. At the time, defendant was peeking out of the doorway of a building in which defendant's cousin, Rondell Purnell, lived. When Roberts said he was about to leave, defendant went inside the building and immediately emerged with a gun in his hand. He approached Roberts and, after a verbal dispute, shot him in the head, killing him. Defendant then shot Anthony Smith in the back, as Smith was running away. As for motive, the People introduced proof that defendant was enraged over the disappearance of a gun from Purnell's residence, and that he shot Roberts and Smith, mistakenly believing they stole the weapon.

The court sentenced defendant to consecutive prison terms of 12½ to 25 years for manslaughter for killing Roberts and 7½ to 15 years for assault for having shot and injured Smith, to run concurrently with a 2 1/3 to 7 year sentence for reckless endangerment. Pertinent to this appeal, the court also imposed a 7½ to 15 year sentence for weapon possession to run consecutively with the manslaughter and assault sentences. Defendant acknowledges that the court had the authority to sentence him consecutively for the Roberts manslaughter and the Smith assault. He contends, however, that by running the weapon sentence consecutively to the others, the court violated Penal Law § 70.25(2). The Appellate Division affirmed defendant's conviction and a Judge of this Court granted defendant leave to appeal. We agree with defendant's contention and therefore modify the Appellate Division order and remit the case to Supreme Court for resentencing.

Penal Law § 70.25 governs the imposition of concurrent and consecutive sentences. Pursuant to subdivision (2),

"[w]hen more than one sentence of imprisonment is imposed on a person for two or more offenses committed through a single act or omission, or through an act or omission which in itself constituted one of the offenses and also was a material element of the other, the sentences ... must run concurrently."

Under either of those circumstances, the court has no discretion; concurrent sentences are mandated (see People v. Ramirez, 89 N.Y.2d 444, 654 N.Y.S.2d 998, 677 N.E.2d 722 [1996]; see generally William Donnino, Practice Commentary, McKinney's Cons. Laws of NY, Book 39, Penal Law § 70.25, at 241-242).

Here, the jury found defendant guilty of second-degree weapon possession for having possessed a pistol "with intent to use [it] unlawfully against another." There is no doubt as to who the other person or persons were.

According to the other counts of the indictment and the proof at trial, defendant used a pistol — the only one involved in this case — to shoot Roberts and Smith. There is no allegation that the weapon count referred to a different pistol or a different event and the prosecution does not contend otherwise.¹ The weapon count thus overlapped with the manslaughter and assault counts, and there was no proof of a separate intent to use the gun unlawfully.

Defendant correctly argues that, to be sentenced consecutively on the weapon charge, it would have been necessary for the People to establish that he possessed the pistol with a purpose unrelated to his intent to shoot Roberts and Smith. People v. Parks, 95 N.Y.2d 811, 712 N.Y.S.2d 429, 734 N.E.2d 741 [2000] and People v. Sturkey, 77 N.Y.2d 979, 571 N.Y.S.2d 898, 575 N.E.2d 384 [1991] support defendant's argument.

In Parks, defendant was indicted on several counts of murder and robbery, along with other related crimes. The felony murder count charged Parks with having killed one of the victims in the course and furtherance of a robbery. He was also charged with robbing other victims at the scene. The indictment, however, did not identify which robbery served as the predicate for felony murder, nor did the court in its instructions to the jury. Because it was impossible to tell which robbery was "separate and distinct" from the felony murder, we held that the court improperly sentenced defendant to consecutive sentences on two of the robbery counts.

The same issue arose in Sturkey. There, ...