People v Stacy Beltre

People v Beltre 2005 NY Slip Op 08885 [23 AD3d 300] November 22, 2005 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, January 18, 2006

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Stacy Beltre, Also Known as Steicy Beltre, Appellant.

—[*1]

Judgments, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Albert Lorenzo, J.), rendered November 13, 2003, convicting defendant, upon his pleas of guilty, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him to concurrent terms of 2 to 6 years, unanimously affirmed.

By waiving his right to appeal, defendant "elect[ed] to foreclose review" (People v Seaberg, 74 NY2d 1, 10 [1989]; People v Callahan, 80 NY2d 273, 285 [1992]) of the length of his lawful sentence. Were we to find that defendant's argument is not foreclosed, we would find that defendant is not entitled, pursuant to the amelioration doctrine of People v Behlog (74 NY2d 237 [1989]), to the benefit of the reduced penalty contained in the Drug Law Reform Act (L 2004, ch 738) because he was sentenced before the statute's effective date (People v Walker, 81 NY2d 661, 666-667 [1993]). Moreover, the Legislature negated the amelioration doctrine and expressly provided that the provisions of the new law defendant relies upon apply only to crimes committed after its effective date (People v Nelson, 21 AD3d 861 [2005]). Concur—Saxe, J.P., Marlow, Ellerin, Gonzalez and McGuire, JJ.