PEOPLE v. RIVERA (2001)

 Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him upon his plea of guilty of sexual abuse in the first degree (Penal Law § 130.65[3] ) and criminal contempt in the first degree (Penal Law § 215.51).   County Court did not err in sua sponte correcting the illegal sentence imposed on the count of sexual abuse (see, People v. Williams, 87 N.Y.2d 1014, 643 N.Y.S.2d 469, 666 N.E.2d 174, rearg. denied 89 N.Y.2d 861, 653 N.Y.S.2d 284, 675 N.E.2d 1237).   The court originally had sentenced defendant to a determinate term of incarceration of five years on that count.   Upon recognizing that the sexual abuse statute under which defendant pleaded guilty permitted only an indeterminate sentence (see, Penal Law § 70.00[2] ), the court then resentenced defendant to an indeterminate term of incarceration of 3 to 6 years on that count.   Contrary to defendant's contention, the court has inherent power to correct sentencing errors even when defendant is thereby exposed to a longer maximum term (see, People v. Minaya, 54 N.Y.2d 360, 363-365, 445 N.Y.S.2d 690, 429 N.E.2d 1161, cert. denied 455 U.S. 1024, 102 S.Ct. 1725, 72 L.Ed.2d 144), as long as “the two sentences [are] sufficiently comparable that defendant's legitimate expectation of finality was not violated” (People v. Shanks, 272 A.D.2d 153, 153-154, 708 N.Y.S.2d 14, lv. denied 95 N.Y.2d 871, 715 N.Y.S.2d 226, 738 N.E.2d 374).

Judgment unanimously affirmed.

MEMORANDUM: