Opinion ID: 2060074
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: People v Efrain Hernandez

Text: Defendant Efrain Hernandez pleaded guilty to burglary in the second degree and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. PRS was not discussed during the plea proceeding or at sentencing. DOCS administratively imposed five years of PRS and Hernandez was conditionally released from prison in December 2005. Hernandez violated PRS and was sent back to prison. After the enactment of Correction Law § 601-d, DOCS notified the sentencing court that Hernandez was a designated person for the purpose of resentencing. Hernandez opposed resentencing on statutory and constitutional grounds. Supreme Court determined that there were no legal impediments to the resentencing procedure under Correction Law § 601-d because the original sentence was illegal without a term of PRS and Hernandez could not have had a reasonable expectation of finality in that sentence once DOCS informed him that PRS was required. At resentencing, in lieu of PRS, the court offered Hernandez the option to withdraw his guilty plea and proceed to trial, but he declined this offer and was resentenced to the original prison term plus five years of PRS. The Appellate Division affirmed (59 AD3d 180 [1st Dept 2009]), holding that a sentencing court has the inherent power to correct an illegal sentence even if the correction occurs more than one year after conviction. The court also determined that a defendant cannot have a legitimate expectation of finality in an illegal sentence and that the imposition of PRS was not fundamentally unfair. A Judge of this Court granted Hernandez leave to appeal (12 NY3d 817 [2009]).