Opinion
2014-11-14
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Aaron VOYMAS, Defendant–Appellant.
Leanne Lapp, Public Defender, Canandaigua (Robert Tucker of Counsel), for Defendant–Appellant. R. Michael Tantillo, District Attorney, Canandaigua, for Respondent.
Leanne Lapp, Public Defender, Canandaigua (Robert Tucker of Counsel), for Defendant–Appellant. R. Michael Tantillo, District Attorney, Canandaigua, for Respondent.
PRESENT: SMITH, J.P., CENTRA, FAHEY, LINDLEY, AND WHALEN, JJ.
MEMORANDUM:
Defendant appeals from an order determining that he is a level two risk pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act (Correction Law § 168 et seq.). Although the Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders (Board) recommended a downward departure from the presumptive classification of defendant as a level two risk, County Court “was not bound by the Board's recommendation and, in the proper exercise of its discretion, the court determined defendant's risk level based upon the record before it” (People v. Woodard, 63 A.D.3d 1655, 1656, 880 N.Y.S.2d 450, lv. denied13 N.Y.3d 706, 2009 WL 2959607). The record establishes that defendant failed to allege mitigating circumstances that are, as a matter of law, of a kind or to a degree not adequately taken into account by the Risk Assessment Guidelines and Commentary and, to the extent defendant did allege such mitigating circumstances, he failed to prove their existence by a preponderance of the evidence ( see People v. Gillotti, 23 N.Y.3d 841, 861, 994 N.Y.S.2d 1, 18 N.E.3d 701).
It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.