| People v Putland |
| 2020 NY Slip Op 05956 [187 AD3d 1073] |
| October 21, 2020 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| The People of the State of New York,
Respondent, v David G. Putland, Appellant. |
Michelle L. Lewin, New York, NY (Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP [Alan E. Schoenfeld and Nicholas R. Werle], of counsel), for appellant.
William V. Grady, District Attorney, Poughkeepsie, NY (Kirsten A. Rappleyea of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant from an order of the County Court, Dutchess County (Edward T. McLoughlin, J.), dated June 4, 2018, which, after a hearing, designated him a level three sexually violent offender pursuant to Correction Law article 6-C.
Ordered that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
In 1979, the defendant, then 15 years old, sexually assaulted and murdered his eight-year-old
neighbor. The defendant was prosecuted as an adult. After a jury trial, the defendant was
convicted of sodomy in the first degree and murder in the second degree. The defendant was
sentenced to indeterminate terms of imprisonment of 3
Legislative enactments are accorded a strong presumption of constitutionality, and " 'parties challenging a duly enacted statute face the initial burden of demonstrating the statute's invalidity "beyond a reasonable doubt" ' " (Overstock.com, Inc. v New York State Dept. of Taxation & Fin., 20 NY3d 586, 593 [2013], quoting LaValle v Hayden, 98 NY2d 155, 161 [2002]). Here, the defendant has failed to demonstrate that, as applied to juvenile offenders who were prosecuted and convicted as adults, SORA's mandatory lifetime registration is punitive, let alone that it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment (see generally People v Gravino, 14 NY3d 546 [2010]), or that it is not rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose and therefore deprives him of substantive due process. Thus, we discern no constitutional basis for disturbing the designation of the defendant as a sexually violent offender or his classification as a level three sex offender (see generally People v Cisneros, 165 AD3d 499 [2018]; People v Ortiz, 160 AD3d 442 [2018]).
The parties' remaining contentions are without merit.
Accordingly, we affirm the County Court's adjudication of the defendant as a level three sexually violent offender. Mastro, J.P., Maltese, Brathwaite Nelson and Wooten, JJ., concur.