PEOPLE v. ORTIZ (1999)

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (John Byrne, J.), rendered September 17, 1997, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 41/212 to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly revoked its promise of a more lenient disposition upon successful completion of a drug program and sentenced defendant to a prison term where defendant absconded from the assigned residential drug program after only two and one-half weeks, and remained at large for almost five months thereafter, notifying no one (People v. Johnson, 254 A.D.2d 49, 680 N.Y.S.2d 196).   The court was not obligated to conduct a hearing, sua sponte, when defendant claimed for the first time at sentencing that he had been threatened by another participant in the program.   Such a circumstance, even if true, would not excuse defendant's conduct.

MEMORANDUM DECISION.