PEOPLE v. COSME (2023)

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Steven L. Barrett, J.), rendered March 24, 2017, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of reckless endangerment in the first degree, and sentencing him to a term of five years' probation, unanimously reversed, as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, the plea vacated, and the indictment dismissed.

As the People concede, the circumstances of this unique case warrant vacating the plea and dismissing the indictment.  The plea allocution did not address whether defendant was making an informed decision to waive a potentially viable insanity defense (see People v. Mox, 20 N.Y.3d 936, 939, 958 N.Y.S.2d 670, 982 N.E.2d 590 [2012]), and the record as a whole casts significant doubt on defendant's mental competence and ability to understand the proceedings or the terms of his plea (see People v. Armlin, 37 N.Y.2d 167, 171, 371 N.Y.S.2d 691, 332 N.E.2d 870 [1975]).

Under these circumstances, the appropriate remedy is dismissal rather than a remand for further proceedings.  Among other things, this 68–year–old, severely mentally ill defendant lives in a secured unit of an assisted living facility under a civil guardianship order.