LIFE SENTENCE FOR CONVICTED BURGLAR FOLLOWING TEN MONTH HEARING ON DEFENDANT’S ELIGIBILITY FOR PRISON TERM AS A PERSISTENT FELONY OFFENDER

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a career criminal was sentenced to a term of up to life imprisonment following a lengthy pre-sentencing hearing that began last summer when defendant Scott Ortiz was convicted of burglary on June 29, 2005.

State Supreme Court Justice Richard Lee Price sentenced Ortiz, 45, to serve 15 years to life imprisonment after ruling on the exhaustive ten month hearing to determine the defendant’s eligibility to be treated as a ‘persistent felony offender’.

Ortiz was found guilty of Burglary in the 3rd degree, a Class D felony offense punishable by a maximum term of 3 and a third to 7 years imprisonment for non predicate offenders. However, at the time that Mr. Ortiz was convicted he had already compiled a criminal record spanning 25 years, which included four prior felony convictions, more than a dozen misdemeanor convictions and two parole violations.

The law governing a judge’s discretion to sentence a person as a ‘persistent felony offender’ requires that the People prove, by a ‘preponderance of the evidence’, that a defendant merits such adjudication, as a result of ‘matters pertaining to his history and character’. In this case, however, the judge exceeded the legislature’s intent by imposing a higher burden of ‘proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ which stretched out the pre-sentencing hearing unnecessarily.

District Attorney Johnson said: “We should not have had to fight so hard in order to protect the community from Mr. Ortiz who was found guilty, by a jury, ten months ago. Unfortunately, the court inappropriately tried to raise the bar on the standard of proof, set forth by the legislature, that has to be met in order to obtain enhanced sentencing for a career criminal. Given Mr. Ortiz’ lengthy criminal history, a sentence of life imprisonment is well deserved.”

This most recent crime for which Ortiz was convicted occurred on August 2, 2004 when Michael Awuah returned home to his Tudor Place apartment to find Ortiz and an unidentified accomplice inside. The victim’s three children were with him, including a nine month old baby who was being carried. Awuah testified that he and the baby were pushed and fell on the floor as the two burglars fled. Awuah told the jury that he got up and chased the fleeing suspects into the street where they split up ran in different directions. Awuah continued to chase Ortiz and quickly caught up with him. Ortiz attempted to slash Awuah with a box cutter before being disarmed and held until police arrived and took him into custody.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Andrew Sacher.