People v. Richardson

OPINION OF THE COURT

Graffeo, J.

We are asked in this appeal to decide if a trial court has the inherent power to modify its lawful sentence of imprisonment where the court did not specify whether the sentence was to run consecutively or concurrently to an undischarged term of imprisonment on an unrelated conviction. Because the record of the original sentencing proceeding in this case does not suggest that the judge intended to impose consecutive sentences, we conclude that CPL 430.10 precluded the alteration of defendant’s sentence.

In 1979, defendant killed an individual during an argument…