The First Department vacated a young defendant’s sentence and sent the case back again because the sentencing judge appeared confused about the facts when denying youthful offender treatment. The court said judges must meaningfully consider that status for eligible defendants, and the decision matters because it reinforces that a youth cannot be denied that protection without a clear, informed review of the actual case.

The First Department upheld Steven Hernandez’s guilty plea and three-year sentence for attempted weapon possession, rejecting his claim that New York’s gun licensing law is unconstitutional under Bruen. The court said he could raise a broad challenge to the law despite his appeal waiver, but that challenge failed, while his age-based claim was barred by the waiver; the only change was that the court removed the sentencing surcharge and fees.

The First Department reinstated a construction worker’s claim that owners and contractors may be liable after he fell on a cracked exterior step while carrying demolition debris, finding factual questions about whether the staircase was the only practical route for the job and qualified as a covered passageway. The court otherwise left most of the lower court’s ruling in place, but it threw out common-law indemnity and contribution claims against the worker’s employer because the worker received workers’ compensation benefits and there was no showing of a grave injury.