The People v. Anthony N. Pacherille

In People v Rudolph, we held that CPL 720.20 (1) mandates “a youthful offender determination in every case where the defendant is eligible, even where the defendant fails to request it, or agrees to forgo it as part of a plea bargain” (21 NY3d 497, 501 [2013]). We thus foreclosed any role for a negotiated plea constraining youthful offender (YO) determination because the legislative mandate that “a court decide whether [YO] treatment is justified” provides an opportunity for juveniles to “have a real likelihood of turning their lives around,” and therefore “is just too valuable, both to the…