Removal of a Prospective Juror for Living in an Almost Exclusively Non-White Neighborhood is a Race Neutral Reason for a Peremptory Challenge
People v Black (_ NY3d_, 2010 NY Slip Op 08766 [11/3010]) is one of the four cases with Batson issues that the Court considered in People v Hecker. The Court, in part, determined whether the trial court was correct in finding that the District Attorney had put forth a race neutral reason for using a peremptory challenge to remove prospective juror Gordon. The People’s reasons for striking Gordon were twofold: she was unemployed and...
read moreModus Operandi Exception to Molineux Has Limits
In People v Stubbs (2010 NY Slip Op 08485 [4th Dept 11/19/10]) the Appellate Division, Fourth Department held that the trial court erred in admitting evidence with respect to a prior robbery committed a prior attempted robbery committed by defendant. This evidence had been admitted to establish the identity of defendant based on his modus operandi (see generally People v Molineux, 168 NY 264, 293-294, 313-317). In reversing, the Court explained that defendant’s method...
read moreWhen Must A Defendant Be Given the Right to Withdraw a Plea Before a Higher Sentence Than Bargained for May Be Imposed?
The appellant in in People v Magliocco...
read moreCoram Nobis May Lie Even When CPL 460.30 Time Limits for Seeking Permission to File a Late Notice of Appeal Has Long Passed
In People v Syville (_NY3d_, 2010 NY Slip Op 07249 [10/14/10])the Court of Appeals held that “[w]here an attorney has failed to comply with a timely request for the filing of a notice of appeal and the defendant alleges that the omission could not reasonably have been discovered within the one-year period, the time limit imposed in CPL 460.30 should not categorically bar an appellate court from considering that defendant’s application to pursue an...
read moreWho Determines Whether to Have the Jury Consider a Lesser Included Offense – Counsel or Defendant?
In People v Colville (2010 NY Slip Op 07185 [2d Dept 10/5/10]) the Appellate Division, Second Department conducted a thorough review of the cases and commentaries on the question of whether the decision to have the jury consider a lesser included offense is a fundamental one to be made by the defendant or a strategic or tactical one for counsel. As the Court noted Having accepted the assistance of counsel, a defendant retains authority...
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