Opinion ID: 3217298
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: New York Sentencing Amendments

Text: In 2004, the New York legislature passed the Drug Law Reform Act of 2004 (the “2004 DLRA”), 2004 N.Y. Laws ch. 738, to “reform the sentencing structure of New York’s drug laws to reduce prison terms for non-violent drug offenders, provide retroactive sentencing relief and make related drug law sentencing improvements.” Rivera v. United States, 716 F.3d 685, 688 (2d Cir. 2013) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting N.Y. State Assembly Mem. in Supp. of Legislation at 3, 6 (2004), reprinted in Bill Jacket, 2004 A.B. 11895, ch. 738). Among other things, the 2004 DLRA lowered the maximum sentences for class B felonies to nine years and for class C felonies to five-and-a-half-years. 2004 N.Y. Laws ch. 738, § 36 (codified at N.Y. Penal Law § 70.70). Though the 2004 DLRA allowed defendants convicted of class A-I felonies to seek resentencing, it did not permit defendants convicted of class B or C felonies to do the same. Id. § 41(d-1). In 2009, however, New York passed the 2009 Drug Law Reform Act (the “2009 DLRA”), allowing individuals convicted of class B felonies the opportunity to obtain resentencing under the lowered maximum sentences. 2009 N.Y. Laws ch. 56, parts AAA § 9 (codified at N.Y. Crim. Proc. § 440.46). In order to qualify for resentencing, a defendant must be “serving an indeterminate sentence with a maximum term of more than three years.” Id. The 2009 DLRA also provides that defendants convicted simultaneously of a class B and C felony may apply for 5 Case: 13-13659 Date Filed: 06/27/2016 Page: 6 of 15 resentencing for both felonies. Id. There is no dispute that Cortes-Morales is ineligible for resentencing under these provisions because he is neither “serving an indeterminate sentence” in New York nor sentenced to a “maximum term of more than three years.”