Court of Appeals — Double Jeopardy: People v. Cintron

New York State Court of Appeals

Double Jeopardy

Erroneous Sentence — Post-Release Supervision

People v. Cintron
No. 35
Judge Lippman

Background: The issue on appeal is whether it constitutes double jeopardy for an appellate court to correct a defendant’s illegal sentence on direct appeal by imposing a term of post-release supervision after the defendant has completed the illegal sentence.

Ruling: The Court of Appeals held that it does not. The court reasoned that a defendant cannot have a legitimate expectation of finality in an erroneous sentence that is subject to correction on appeal.

Justin J. Braun for the appellant; Mark W. Zeno for the respondent