Thursday, February 17, 2005
D.A. BROWN: SECOND RE-SENTENCING IN QUEENS COUNTY UNDER NEWLY REVISED DRUG LAWS; CONVICTED MID-LEVEL DRUG TRAFFICKER’S SENTENCE REDUCED FROM FIFTEEN YEARS TO LIFE TO DETERMINATE SENTENCE OF TWELVE YEARS ALLOWING FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE UNDER POST-RELEASE SUPERVISION
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a convicted mid-level drug trafficker sent to prison for 15 years to life in 1993 for supplying wholesale quantities of cocaine to subway maintenance workers has been re-sentenced to serve twelve years in prison under the newly revised New York State drug laws.
According to the District Attorney, the defendant could have become eligible for conditional release in 2003 upon completion of ten years of his sentence but remained incarcerated because of repeated disciplinary infractions while in prison.
District Attorney Brown said, “I want to make clear that, while I am not opposed to the resentencing of the defendant to a sentence comparable to that which he would have received had the revised drug laws been in effect when he was originally sentenced, this is not a case that should evoke our sympathy. The defendant was convicted of a serious drug trafficking offense and has been less than a model inmate while in prison. But the new law provides that unless substantial justice dictates that the application for sentencing be denied the defendant must be offered a determinate sentence as an alternative to the sentence originally imposed. Fortunately, the new law also provides for strict parole supervision during the next five years that should serve as a deterrent against further criminal activity.”
The District Attorney noted that the recent revision of New York State’s drug laws significantly reduced the sentences for A-I felony offenders convicted of possession or sale of narcotics. The Legislature also provided for resentencing of A-I drug offenders upon motion by the defendant. Some 400 defendants statewide could be eligible for resentencing, including about three dozen in Queens County.
District Attorney Brown identified the second Queens County drug sentence reduction defendant as Miguel Arenas, 41, a subway train repair manager employed by a Transit Authority subcontractor whose address was 1318 Commonwealth Avenue in the Bronx. Arenas was convicted after a jury trial on October 5, 1993 of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Steven W. Fisher who on October 13, 1994 sentenced him to serve an indeterminate prison term of 15 years to life.
The District Attorney said that earlier today Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert C. McGann imposed a reduced determinate sentence of twelve years in prison that will make defendant Arenas immediately eligible for release under post-release supervision.
The first Queens County drug sentence reduction defendant -- Stacy Johnson, 37, whose last address was 103-25 101st Street in Richmond Hill, Queens -- was resentenced last month to serve a reduced determinate sentence of eight years and will become eligible later this year for release under post-release supervision.
District Attorney Brown said that defendant Arenas was arrested on March 5, 1993, accused of being a mid-level drug trafficker and charged with supplying wholesale quantities of cocaine to subway maintenance workers in the Transit Authority’s Jamaica yards. He was convicted after trial on October 5, 1993 of supplying 3-1/2 ounces of cocaine -- the equivalent of 7,500 glassine envelopes of the drug -- to a co-worker who sold it to an undercover police officer. He received a sentence of 15 years to life. If he had been originally convicted under the newly revised drug laws, the defendant could have received a determinate sentence of between eight and 20 years in prison.
The District Attorney said that the defendant’s inmate record includes eleven infractions on eight dates between November 1994 and January 2000. The infractions include assault on another inmate, engaging in gang activity, interference with a correctional employee and failing to obey orders.
District Attorney Brown said, “A review of the defendant’s prison record reveals that by his own actions he delayed his release for five years by engaging in violent and disruptive conduct while an inmate. Fortunately, under the new law he will be under intense parole supervision during the next five years. Hopefully, he will not return to his old vocation as a mid-level drug dealer.”
The District Attorney said that the changes in the law took effect on January 13, 2005. The revised provision in the new law raises the threshold for possession of A-I drugs such as cocaine and heroin from four ounces to eight ounces. The previous maximum sentence of an indeterminate term of 25 years to life was reduced to a new determinate range of from eight to 20 years.
The case was prosecuted by former Assistant District Attorney Vincent J. Gentile of the District Attorney's Narcotic Investigations Bureau under the supervision of former Assistant District Attorney Brian P. Mich, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of then Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations John M. Ryan, now Chief Assistant District Attorney.