(Download) "People State New York v. Donald Clarence Smith" by Supreme Court of New York ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: People State New York v. Donald Clarence Smith
- Author : Supreme Court of New York
- Release Date : January 20, 1969
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 66 KB
Description
Based on said plea of guilty, defendant was sentenced originally on December 11, 1957 to an indeterminate term having a minimum
of one day and a maximum of his natural life, receiving at the same time a sentence of 20 years to life upon pleading guilty
to the crime of murder in the second degree. Thereafter two coram nobis proceedings were instituted in respect to the sodomy
convictions, resulting in vacating the original sentence thereon and the subsequent resentence of appellant to a one-day-to-life
term. The discretion of the sentencing Judge to mete out a one-day-to-life sentence, in any case subject to section 2189-a
of the former Penal Law, is limited to those cases in which the record indicates some basis for a finding that the defendant
is a danger to society or is capable of being benefited by the confinement envisaged under the statutory scheme (People v.
Bailey, 21 N.Y.2d 588, 594). Testimony at the hearing and material in the psychiatrists' report each furnished a basis for
the exercise of the discretion of the court below in finding appellant a danger to society and no adequate reason has been
advanced to disturb that discretion. Since the crimes here in question were committed prior to September 1, 1967, they must
be punished according to the provisions of law existing at the time of their commission, and section 2189-a of the former
Penal Law is applicable here (Penal Law, § 5.05; People v. Stevenson, 32 A.D.2d 662). While it is true that the Legislature
did not see fit to re-enact section 2189-a as part of the revised Penal Law, it is also obvious that it did not make an exception
in regard thereto from the provisions of subdivision 3 of section 5.05 of the new Penal Law. Disposition Judgment affirmed.