People v. Vargas

• Decision Date: 30 January 2014
• Citation: People v. Vargas, 2014 NY Slip Op 577, 113 AD3d 570, 979 N.Y.S.2d 520 (N.Y. App. Div. 2014)
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Gabriel VARGAS, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

113 A.D.3d 570

979 N.Y.S.2d 520

2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 00577

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.Gabriel VARGAS, Defendant–Appellant.

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

Jan. 30, 2014.

Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Barbara Zolot of counsel), for appellant.

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Hope Korenstein of counsel), for respondent.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Ruth Pickholz, J.), entered on or about February 14, 2012, which denied defendant's CPL 440.46 motion for resentencing, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly exercised its discretion in determining that substantial justice dictated denial of the motion. Resentencing “involves a complex balancing of several sets of compelling and in some respects competing concerns” (People v. Sosa, 18 N.Y.3d 436, 442, 940 N.Y.S.2d 534, 963 N.E.2d 1235 [2012] ), requiring the “exercise of judicial discretion to determine whether relief to an eligible applicant is in the end consonant with the dictates of substantial justice” (id. at 443, 940 N.Y.S.2d 534, 963 N.E.2d 1235), and courts may deny the applications of persons who “have shown by their conduct that they do not deserve relief from their sentences” (People v. Paulin, 17 N.Y.3d 238, 244, 929 N.Y.S.2d 36, 952 N.E.2d 1028 [2011] ). Defendant's...