State v. Leon F. (anonymous)

• Decision Date: 17 May 2011
• Docket Number: 2010-00636,Index No. 347/08
• Parties: In the Matter of State of New York, respondent, v. Leon F. (Anonymous), appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

2011 NY Slip Op 04260

In the Matter of State of New York, respondent,
v.
Leon F. (Anonymous), appellant.

2010-00636
Index No. 347/08

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK APPELLATE DIVISION : SECOND JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT

Decided on May 17, 2011

MARK C. DILLON, J.P.

RUTH C. BALKIN

RANDALL T. ENG

SHERI S. ROMAN, JJ.

Mental Hygiene Legal Service, Mineola, N.Y. (Lesley M. DeLia, Arthur A. Baer, Dennis B. Feld, and Rachel E. Seevers of counsel), for appellant.

Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York, N.Y. (Benjamin N. Gutman and Laura R. Johnson of counsel), for respondent.

DECISION & ORDER

In a proceeding pursuant to Mental Hygiene Law article 10 for the civil management of Leon F., a sex offender allegedly requiring civil management, Leon F. appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Tomei, J.), dated December 16, 2009, which, upon a finding, made after a nonjury trial, that he suffers from a mental abnormality as defined in Mental Hygiene Law § 10.03(i), and a determination, after a dispositional hearing, that he currently is a dangerous sex offender requiring civil confinement, granted the petition and directed that he be committed to a secure treatment facility for care and treatment.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.

This appeal arises from a proceeding under article 10 of the Mental Hygiene Law, also known as the Sex Offender Management and Treatment Act (hereinafter SOMTA). In 1992, the appellant was convicted of sexual abuse in the first degree, upon his plea of guilty, in full satisfaction of charges which included rape, sexual abuse, assault, and robbery. He was paroled in October 1994, and subsequently violated parole. In December of 2001, while on parole in connection with a conviction for the criminal sale of a controlled substance, the appellant was convicted of attempted rape in the first degree upon his plea of guilty, based on an incident in which he forced himself upon the 68-year-old mother of his then-girlfriend. He was sentenced to 8 years of incarceration. While incarcerated, he was further convicted, in April 2003, of attempted rape in the first degree upon his plea of guilty, based on a rape that he had committed in July 1996.

In June 2008, as the appellant's release date approached, the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health appointed a Case Review Team to conduct an evaluation (see Mental Hygiene Law § 10.05[a], [d], [e]). Based on the Case Review Team's report, the Attorney General filed the instant...