...
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. JESSICA PEREZ, Appellant.
No. 15919.
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department.
December 21, 2006.
Carpinello, J. Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Albany County (Breslin, J.), rendered December 6, 2004, convicting defendant upon her plea of guilty of the crimes of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree.
Mathew B. Tully, Albany, for appellant.
P. David Soares, District Attorney, Albany (Sean T. Childs of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Mercure, J.P., Peters, Spain and Kane, JJ.
In satisfaction of two indictments containing various drug-related offenses, defendant pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree. Pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, defendant was to be sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 2 to 6 years. It was further agreed that sentencing would be delayed for a considerable period of time (apparently because defendant was a few months pregnant). County Court, however, twice advised defendant that if she were arrested during the ensuing time period, it would reserve the right to impose a harsher sentence. She was specifically advised that another arrest could result in consecutive, 5 to 15-year prison sentences.
While awaiting sentencing, defendant was again arrested and charged with additional drug-related crimes. At sentencing on the original charges, County Court was initially willing to accept a plea to the new charges and sentence her to an aggregate prison term of 4 to 12 years for all charges. During a plea allocution on the new charges, however, defendant indicated that she had not had sufficient time to confer with her attorney. County Court therefore refused to accept a plea to the new charges, ignored apparent attempts by defendant and her attorney to revisit the matter and proceeded to sentence her on the original charges. In light of her violation of the no-arrest...