The People v. Dennis J. Sincerbeaux
The People v. Dennis J. Sincerbeaux
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OF THE COURT
In this Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) (Correction Law art 6-C) appeal, we are asked to decide whether the SORA court erred in assessing defendant points under risk factors 1, 5, and 9 and abused its discretion in adjudicating defendant a risk level three sex offender. We conclude that the court did not err and did not abuse its discretion.
I.
Defendant was convicted on his plea of guilty of incest in the third degree (Penal Law § 255.25) for engaging in sexual intercourse with a person he knew to be related to him over a period of approximately one month in 2007. He was sentenced to six months’ incarceration followed by 10 years’ probation.
At the SORA hearing, defendant argued that it would be inappropriate for the court to assess a collective 30 points under risk factors 1 and 5 for forcible compulsion and age of the victim in the current incest offense. Defendant argued that these points were unwarranted because they were based on the allegations of the victim and were not charged offenses. Defendant also argued that he should only be assessed five points for his prior endangering the welfare of a child conviction under risk factor 9, and not 30 points as the Board had recommended, because it was a misdemeanor that was not sexual in nature. Defendant argued that if the 25 points he claimed were overas-sessed under risk factor 9 were subtracted, defendant would have received a score of 90 and been designated a level two sex offender. Additionally, defendant argued that without those 25 points under risk factor 9 and 30 points under risk factors 1 and 5, he would have received a score of 60 and been classified a level one offender.
The People "vigorously oppose [d]” defendant’s request to be adjudicated a level one sex offender. The People, relying on the victim’s statements, argued that clear and convincing evidence had been presented to support the assessment of points for forcible compulsion and age of the victim under risk factors 1 and 5, respectively. The People further argued that it was appropriate for the court to consider allegations made by the victim of uncharged crimes such as these. As to defendant’s requested point reduction related to the prior endangering the welfare of a child conviction under risk factor 9, the People argued that even if the court granted defendant’s request, which would bring his points from 115 to 90 making him a presumptive risk level two, an upward departure to level three would be warranted given the victim’s allegations of “numerous occasions of forcible sexual intercourse.”
The Appellate Division affirmed and found record support for the SORA court to assess defendant points under risk factors 1 and 5 for forcible compulsion and age of the victim in relation to the current incest offense because the People had “presented ‘reliable hearsay evidence, in the form of the victim’s statement’ ” (121 AD3d 1577, 1577 [4th Dept 2014] [citation omitted]). The Appellate Division further held that the SORA court did not abuse its discretion in assessing defendant 30 points under risk factor 9 for the prior endangering the welfare of a child conviction and classifying him a level three sex offender.
This Court granted defendant leave to appeal (24 NY3d 915 [2015]), and we now affirm.
II.
Correction Law § 168-n (3) requires the People to prove facts to support defendant’s SORA risk-level classification by clear and convincing evidence. As relevant here, the SORA Risk Assessment Guidelines and Commentary make clear that, when assessing points related to the current offense, the court is not
In relation to his current offense, the SORA court properly assessed defendant 10 points under risk factor 1 for use of forcible compulsion and 20 points under risk factor 5 for the age of the victim being less than 16. Neither force nor age is an element of defendant’s current incest conviction (see Penal Law § 255.25). However, the record contains clear and convincing evidence supporting the assignment of points for both of these risk factors in the form of a sworn statement from the victim. Although victims’ statements may be considered even if unsworn, here, the victim’s sworn statement complies with the requirements for such statements set forth in Penal Law § 210.45
In relation to the assessment of points for defendant’s criminal history under risk factor 9, the Guidelines direct the SORA court to assess defendant 30 points for a prior “violent felony, a misdemeanor sex crime, or endangering the welfare of a child” (Guidelines, factor 9). Additionally, the Guidelines provide that
“[t]he Board decided to treat endangering the welfare of a child as if it were a sex crime because it generally involves sexual misconduct, especially when it is part of a plea bargained disposition. Where a review of the record indicates that there was no such misconduct, a departure may be warranted” (Guidelines at 14 [emphasis added]).
Plainly, pursuant to these Guidelines the SORA court was required to assess 30 points for a prior endangering the welfare of a child conviction without regard to whether the underlying offense involved conduct that is sexual in nature, subject to the court’s authority to grant a downward departure in the exercise of its discretion.
As we recently stated, “[i]n determining whether to depart from a presumptive risk level, the hearing court weighs the aggravating or mitigating factors alleged by the departure-requesting party to assess whether, under the totality of the
The aggravating factors included defendant’s admission before the SORA court that the prior endangering the welfare of a child conviction arose from an allegation of “excessive corporal punishment . . . involving striking his son with some kind of a stick and leaving a bruise.” Moreover, an excerpt from the related child protective report contained in the record stated that defendant beat his son with a two-by-four, resulting in a physical injury of an approximately four-by-five-inch large purple bruise below the son’s buttocks. Additionally, as described above, the victim’s sworn statement indicated that she experienced years of physical abuse as a result of her attempts to refuse defendant’s sexual advances. Moreover, the victim averred in her statement that defendant forced her to have incestuous sexual intercourse with him seven to eight times per month starting two months after she moved in with him until the time she moved out, which was from when she was 13 years old until she was 28 years old. Thus, the victim declared that the sexual intercourse spanned a period of over 15 years. Defendant pleaded guilty to one month of incestuous intercourse and then admitted to probation in the presentence report to having said intercourse with the victim for a period spanning more than eight years, claiming self-servingly that the crimes began when the victim was 18 or 19 years old — a claim that was not credited by the SORA court. Lastly, the victim also reported that, at the time her first child was born,
Defendant’s adjudicated risk level is meant to capture his risk of reoffense and danger to the community (see Guidelines at 2-3). Given the enormity of defendant’s uncharged sexual crimes, the facts of which were proved by clear and convincing evidence and not fully accounted for in the RAI, the SORA court did not abuse its discretion when it declined to downwardly depart from the presumptive risk level three. Defendant’s focus in isolation on his nonsexual prior endangering the welfare of a child conviction as a mitigating factor ignores that the violent nature of that prior offense
The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, without costs.
. With regard to defendant’s failure to accept responsibility, the pre-sentence report found that defendant “presented himself as a victim, demonstrated no remorse and accepted very little accountability for his actions.” Moreover, it found that defendant blamed the victim for his own conduct and denied that his sexual intercourse with the victim fell within the definition of “incest.”
. Penal Law § 210.45 provides that
“[a] person is guilty of making a punishable false written statement when he knowingly makes a false statement, which he does not believe to be true, in a written instrument bearing a legally authorized form notice to the effect that false statements made therein are punishable.
“Making a punishable false written statement is a class A misdemeanor.”
. Defendant’s suggestion that the court should have arbitrarily assessed five points, instead of 30 points, under risk factor 9 is misguided, as it is in contravention of the Guidelines. A court may depart from the presumptive risk level, not from points that are properly assigned within a specific risk factor. Furthermore, the People’s apparent concession of error as to the alleged overassessment of points under risk factor 9 in their brief is not binding on this Court. The People never advanced this erroneous legal argument before the SORA court, nor did they raise it at the Appellate Division; accordingly, we need not consider this newfound argument in reviewing the question of law presented herein.
. To the extent that defendant raises a constitutional due process challenge to the Guidelines on appeal, such argument is unpreserved.
. Indeed, the allegations underlying the prior endangering conviction mirror the elements of the violent felony of assault in the second degree, which is assessed 30 points on the RAI (Penal Law §§ 70.02 [1] [c]; 120.05 [2]).
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). Defendant challenges his designation under New York’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) (Correction Law art 6-C) as a level three risk to reoffend on the ground, among others, that County Court improperly accepted the Board’s risk assessment score of 30 points under factor 9 based on a prior conviction that did not involve sexual misconduct. At the SORA hearing defendant requested that his risk assessment reflect the nonsexual nature of his prior offense, which he correctly identified as a permissible ground for departure under the Sex Offender Registration Act: Risk Assessment Guidelines and Commentary (2006) (Guidelines).
The Guidelines assign 30 points under risk factor 9 for a
“decided to treat endangering the welfare of a child as if it were a sex crime because it generally involves sexual misconduct, especially when it is part of a plea bargained disposition. Where a review of the record indicates that there was no such misconduct, a departure may be warranted” (id. at 14 [emphasis added]).
It is undisputed that defendant’s conviction for endangering the welfare of a child did not involve sexual misconduct. The question presented on this appeal is whether County Court properly considered defendant’s request to be assessed a lower risk because his offense lacked a sexual component. In support, defendant argued to County Court that his case fell squarely within the Guidelines and the Board’s explicit proposed grounds for departure.
Whether, as the majority concludes, defendant could be designated a level three offender based on his criminal history is of no moment to the issue on appeal because that determination should be made in the first instance by the SORA court (majority op at 689-690). In my view, the record cannot be read, as apparently the majority does, to establish that County Court gave proper consideration to the Guidelines’ instruction concerning factor 9 and defendant’s argument that his offense was nonsexual in nature. Therefore, I dissent and would reverse and remand for the court’s assessment of defendant’s risk level in light of the Guidelines and the facts of his case, and, if necessary, for a determination on the People’s request for an upward departure.
Order affirmed, without costs.
. Contrary to the majority’s suggestion (majority op at 689 n 3), a departure by the court because of an overassessment of defendant’s risk under factor 9 would not have been arbitrary but, rather, based specifically on a mitigating factor expressly provided for in the Guidelines.
. For example, while both level two and level three offenders are required to register for life, a level two offender who does not have a special designa
. Defendant failed to preserve his constitutional and statutory challenge to the Board’s treatment of his endangering the welfare of a child conviction as if it was a sex crime. Thus, whether the Board may automatically assess 30 points under factor 9 without clear and convincing evidence of defendant’s sexual misconduct remains an open question. For purposes of my analysis, I assume, without deciding, that the Board may lawfully classify and score this offense in such a manner, while providing for a departure from the risk level.
. Notably, the People take the position on this appeal that defendant should not have been assessed 30 points under factor 9. They request that the case be remanded to the SORÁ court to consider the People’s upward modification on the original hearing record or on a motion to reconsider defendant’s risk assessment based on his conduct after the SORA hearing.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Dennis J. Sincerbeaux, Appellant
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- 186 cases
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- Published