People v. Rivas

Summary

The Appellate Division, First Department modified the judgment convicting Angel Rivas upon his guilty plea to attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. The court struck six probation conditions as not reasonably related to rehabilitation or necessary to ensure lawful conduct, including conditions concerning dependents, substance testing and treatment, mental health treatment, gang affiliation, and an ignition interlock device. The judgment was otherwise affirmed.

Holdings

1. A defendant's appeal waiver does not foreclose a challenge to the legality of probation conditions.
2. The lack of preservation did not foreclose appellate review of the legality of the probation conditions.
3. The conditions requiring defendant to support dependents and meet family responsibilities; submit to drug and alcohol testing; undergo mental-health treatment; participate in substance-abuse, domestic-violence, or alternatives-to-violence programs; refrain from gang affiliation; and install and maintain an ignition interlock device were improperly imposed and had to be stricken because they were not reasonably related to defendant's rehabilitation or necessary to ensure that he would lead a law-abiding life.

Questions Presented

1. Whether defendant's challenges to the legality of the probation conditions were foreclosed by his appeal waiver.
2. Whether the challenges were unpreserved for appellate review.
3. Whether six probation conditions were reasonably related to defendant's rehabilitation or necessary to ensure that he would lead a law-abiding life under Penal Law § 65.10(1).

Disposition

other