People v. Rivera

• Decision Date: 25 April 2006
• Docket Number: 8364.,8363.
• Citation: 813 N.Y.S.2d 86,28 A.D.3d 369,2006 NY Slip Op 03010
• Parties: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. JOSE RIVERA, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

28 A.D.3d 369

813 N.Y.S.2d 86

2006 NY Slip Op 03010

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. JOSE RIVERA, Appellant.

8363.

8364.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, First Department.

April 25, 2006.

Judgment, Supreme

Court, Bronx County (John N. Byrne, J., at plea; John P. Collins, J., at sentence), rendered July 15, 2004, convicting defendant of criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 4½ to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant is not entitled, pursuant to the amelioration doctrine of People v Behlog (74 NY2d 237 [1989]), to the benefit of the reduced penalty contained in the Drug Law Reform Act (L 2004, ch 738), because the Legislature has expressly stated that the provision upon which defendant relies applies only to crimes committed after its effective date (People v Nelson, 21 AD3d 861 [2005]). In any event, the amelioration doctrine does not apply where, as here, a defendant was sentenced before the new law's effective date (People v Walker, 81 NY2d 661, 666-667 [1993]).

Concur — Buckley, P.J., Tom, Andrias, Gonzalez and Sweeny, JJ.