People v. BaileyPeople v. Bailey
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Stephanie Zaro, J.), rendered January 4, 2017, convicting him of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree (three counts), upon his plea of guilty, and sentencing him to consecutive indeterminate terms of imprisonment of 2½ to 5 years on each count.
ORDERED that the judgment is modified, on the law, by providing that the sentences imposed shall run concurrently with each other; as so modified, the judgment is affirmed.
We agree with the defendant‘s contention that it was unlawful to impose consecutive sentences upon his convictions of three counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. Sentences imposed for two or more offenses may not run consecutively where, inter alia, “a single act constitutes two offenses” (People v McKnight, 16 NY3d 43, 47; see
Here, no facts were alleged in the Superior Court Information or adduced at the defendant‘s plea allocution which establish three separate acts of possession (see generally People v Laureano, 87 NY2d at 644-645). Accordingly, there was no basis for imposing consecutive sentences for three counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree (see People v Smith___AD3d___ [decided herewith]; People v Garcia, 129 AD3d 524; People v Baker, 94 AD3d 1553; People v Mitchell, 77 AD3d 1376, 1378; People v Hunt, 52 AD3d 1312, 1313; People v Paccione, 290 AD2d 567; People v Salazar, 290 AD2d 256, 257; People v Rogers, 111 AD2d 665, 666). We thus modify the sentences so as to run them concurrently (see People v Backus, 14 NY3d 876; People v Bethea, 56 AD3d 485).
LEVENTHAL, J.P., CHAMBERS, SGROI and CONNOLLY, JJ., concur.
ENTER:
Aprilanne Agostino
Clerk of the Court