People v. Felix

I do not believe that the sentence imposed herein may be sustained by an appellate exercise, de novo, of the full scope of sentencing discretion from which the trial court believed itself foreclosed. A review of the record reveals that the court, unable to find any of the mitigating circumstances enumerated in section 70.02 (subd 5, par [b]) of the Penal Law, found itself obliged to impose, as promised, the minimum indeterminate sentence mandated by paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of the same section: “I cannot find mitigating circumstances in this case because there is nothing in connection…