PEOPLE v. WILSON (2025)

Judgments, Supreme Court, Bronx County (William I. Mogulescu, J. at plea and sentencing;  Raymond L. Bruce, J. at resentencing), rendered June 28, 2018, as amended January 28, 2020, convicting defendant, upon his pleas of guilty, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, adjudicating him a youthful offender as to the criminal weapon possession count only, sentencing him to a jail term of 90 days and four years of probation on the criminal sale count concurrent to four years of probation on the criminal possession of a weapon count, and resentencing him, upon his violation of probation, to concurrent terms of nine months incarceration in both cases, unanimously affirmed.

The court providently exercised its discretion in denying youthful offender treatment for defendant's conviction of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree (indictment No. 968/18) (see generally People v. Drayton, 39 N.Y.2d 580, 385 N.Y.S.2d 1, 350 N.E.2d 377 [1976]).  Defendant failed to comply with the conditions of his plea agreement under an earlier indictment for criminal weapon possession.  Defendant did not cooperate with the Probation Department in its preparation of the presentence report for the prior case, and he “failed to complete [the] treatment program” required by “the terms of his original plea agreement” in the prior case before he “committed [the] new felony” offenses charged in the subsequent case (People v. Nunez, 168 A.D.3d 421, 421, 88 N.Y.S.3d 884 [1st Dept. 2019], lv denied 33 N.Y.3d 952, 100 N.Y.S.3d 188, 123 N.E.3d 847 [2019];  see also People v. Lingo, 177 A.D.3d 471, 472, 110 N.Y.S.3d 537 [1st Dept. 2019], lv denied 34 N.Y.3d 1160, 120 N.Y.S.3d 236, 142 N.E.3d 1138 [2020]).  Defendant committed another offense “despite the plea court's warning that [he] could be denied youthful offender status if he were arrested for another crime” (People v. S.J., 227 A.D.3d 626, 626, 211 N.Y.S.3d 356 [1st Dept. 2024], lv denied 42 N.Y.3d 930, 216 N.Y.S.3d 123, 240 N.E.3d 842 [2024]).  We perceive no basis to substitute a youthful offender adjudication in the interest of justice for defendant's conviction in the second case for criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree.