An appeals court has ruled a potential life sentence in prison is not proper for a Penn Yan man.
In a recent decision, the Fourth Judicial Department of state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division ordered that the case of Reginald Boykins be sent back to Yates County Court for resentencing.
Penn Yan police arrested Boykins in 2012 after he sold drugs to an undercover agent. At the time, police called Boykins the main supplier of crack cocaine in the village.
Boykins was convicted of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, a class B felony, following a 2013 trial. Yates County Judge W. Patrick Falvey, who has since retired, deemed Boykins a persistent felony offender and sentenced the Rochester resident to 15 years-to-life in prison.
In its decision, the appeals court raised the issue of whether the 2004 and 2009 Drug Law Reform Acts allow a judge to sentence a defendant convicted of certain drug offenses as a persistent felony offender. In 2015, the appellate court affirmed the conviction and said Falvey was right in designating Boykins a persistent felony offender.
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