PEOPLE v. POSEY (2015)

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Columbia County (Koweek, J.), rendered January 15, 2014, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.

Defendant waived indictment and pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree as charged in a superior court information. Under the terms of the plea agreement, County Court was to sentence defendant, in accordance with a joint recommendation, to three years in prison, to be followed by two years of postrelease supervision, provided that he appeared for sentencing. Defendant, however, fled to Florida where he was convicted of additional drug-related crimes. He was extradited to New York and, when he appeared for sentencing, he was sentenced to 41/212 years in prison, to be followed by two years of postrelease supervision. Defendant now appeals.

Defendant's sole contention is that the enhanced sentence is harsh and excessive. We disagree. Defendant was fully informed of the consequences of failing to appear at sentencing at the time that he entered his guilty plea, but chose to travel to Florida where he remained for a substantial period of time and committed further crimes before being extradited to New York. In view of this, we find no abuse of discretion nor any extraordinary consequences warranting a reduction of the sentence in the interest of justice (see People v. Rencher, 65 A.D.3d 1389, 1390 [2009], lv denied 13 N.Y.3d 910 [2009]; see also People v. Johnson, 20 A.D.3d 591, 592 [2005], lv denied 5 N.Y.3d 807 [2005] ).

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.