SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department

847 

KA 10-02245 

PRESENT: SCUDDER, P.J., SMITH, CENTRA, FAHEY, AND PERADOTTO, JJ. 

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, RESPONDENT, 

V MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

DAVON GRIFFIN, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. 

LINDA M. CAMPBELL, SYRACUSE, FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. 

WILLIAM J. FITZPATRICK, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SYRACUSE (MISHA A. COULSON

OF COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT. 

 

Appeal from a resentence of the Onondaga County Court (William D.

Walsh, J.), rendered June 10, 2010. Defendant was resentenced upon

his conviction of manslaughter in the first degree. 

It is hereby ORDERED that the resentence so appealed from is

unanimously affirmed. 

Memorandum: Defendant was convicted upon a plea of guilty of

manslaughter in the first degree (Penal Law § 125.20 [1]). On a prior

appeal, we affirmed the judgment of conviction (People v Griffin, 24

AD3d 1316, lv denied 6 NY3d 813), but we subsequently granted

defendant’s motion for a writ of error coram nobis (People v Griffin,

59 AD3d 1106). Upon reviewing the appeal de novo, we agreed with

defendant that County Court erred in sentencing him as a first felony

offender after “it became apparent at sentencing that defendant had a

prior felony conviction” (People v Griffin, 72 AD3d 1496, 1497). 

Inasmuch as “ ‘[i]t is illegal to sentence a known predicate felon as

a first offender,’ ” we modified the judgment by vacating the

sentence, and we remitted the matter for resentencing pursuant to CPL

400.21 (id.). On remittal, the court sentenced defendant as a second

felony offender to a determinate term of incarceration of 10 years,

with a period of postrelease supervision of five years.

As defendant correctly concedes, his contention that County Court

erred in failing to order an updated presentence report is unpreserved

for our review “inasmuch as he never requested such an update,

objected to the presentence report at the resentencing, or moved to

vacate the resentencing on that ground” (People v Lard, 71 AD3d 1464,

1465, lv denied 14 NY3d 889; see People v Campbell, 111 AD3d 1253,

1253, lv denied ___ NY3d ___ [June 9, 2014]; People v Stachnik, 101

AD3d 1590, 1591-1592, lv denied 20 NY3d 1104). In any event, “the

decision whether to obtain an updated [presentence] report at

resentencing is a matter resting in the sound discretion of the
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KA 10-02245 

sentencing [court]” (People v Kuey, 83 NY2d 278, 282). “Where, as

here, [the] defendant has been continually incarcerated between the

time of the initial sentencing and resentencing, to require an update

. . . does not advance the purpose of CPL 390.20 (1)” (Lard, 71 AD3d

at 1465 [internal quotation marks omitted]; see Campbell, 111 AD3d at

1253-1254).

Finally, we reject defendant’s contention that he was denied

effective assistance of counsel at the resentencing, inasmuch as

defense counsel was able to secure an advantageous resentence for

defendant (see People v Cobado, 104 AD3d 1322, 1323; see generally

People v Baldi, 54 NY2d 137, 147). Although the period of postrelease

supervision was increased from 21⁄2 years to 5 years, the period of

incarceration was reduced from 15 years to 10 years. 

Entered: September 26, 2014 Frances E. Cafarell

Clerk of the Court