People v. Amer

DECISION & ORDER

*1  Appeal, by permission, from an order of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, Richmond County (Alan J. Meyer, J.), dated July 1, 2015. The order, insofar as appealed from, denied the branch of defendant’s motion seeking to vacate, pursuant to CPL 440.10 (1) (h), a judgment of that court rendered May 9, 2012 convicting him, upon his plea of guilty, of attempted petit larceny. PER CURIAMORDERED that the order, insofar as appealed from, is reversed, on the law, and the matter is remitted to the Criminal Court for a new determination, following a hearing, of the branch of defendant’s motion seeking to vacate the May 9, 2012 judgment of conviction.In January 2010, defendant was charged in a felony complaint with grand larceny in the third degree (Penal Law §155.35), welfare fraud in the third degree (Penal Law §158.15), offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree (Penal Law §175.35 [3]), and falsifying business records in the second degree (Penal Law §175.05 [1]). The complaint alleged that, from January 1, 2006 to August 1, 2009, defendant stole $28,703.56 worth of New York State Medicaid benefits. On July 15, 2010, the felony charges were reduced and, upon the advice of his attorney, defendant pleaded guilty to attempted offering a false instrument for filing in the second degree (Penal Law §§110.00, 175.30), a class B misdemeanor. Defendant was sentenced to a conditional discharge and to pay restitution in the sum of $28,000, which amount has apparently been paid.Thereafter, defendant applied to become a United States citizen and, by decision dated April 12, 2012, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) denied defendant’s application