Conflicts Require Corrective Action, Not Just A Wink
In People v Connolly (2009 NY Slip Op 04822 6/12/09)the Court held that the grand jury proceeding was defective where one of the grand jurors informed the prosecutor that she was the mother of one of the alleged victims and the mother-in-law of another. In addition, the grand juror’s daughter had commenced a civil action against defendant, allegedly arising from the same facts that resulted in the instant indictment against defendant. Although the special...
read moreSORA: When Is Person Whom The Defendant Had Never Seen Before Not a Stranger
In People v Helmer (2009 NY Slip Op 04830 4th Dept 6/12/09) the sole issue was whether the victim was a stranger to defendant for purposes of determining whether defendant should have been assessed 20 points on the risk assessment instrument for risk factor 7, “[r]elationship with victim.” The Court held that despite the fact that it was undisputed that defendant and the 15 year old victim had sexual relations on the same day...
read moreCourt of Appeals Allows Admission of Identification Evidence Which is Product of Suggestive Procedures Not Conducted by Police
In People v Adams (53 NY2d 241 [1981]) the Court of Appeals held that evidence of an unnecessarily suggestive police-arranged identification of a criminal suspect must be suppressed as a matter of State constitutional law. Unfortunately, despite the fact that misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions, the Court of Appeals in People v Marte (2009 NY Slip Op 04741 June 11, 2009) held that no similar per se rule applies to...
read moreCharges For Which Defendant Was Acquitted Should Not Be Considered In Imposing Sentence
It should not surprise anyone that in People v Durand (2009 NY Slip Op 04476 4th Dept 6/5/09) the Court held that under New York law it was error for the lower court to have considered “the counts of burglary in the third degree and petit larceny, of which defendant was acquitted, when imposing the sentences on the criminal trespass counts (see People v Reeder, 298 AD2d 468, lv denied 99 NY2d 538; see...
read moreJurisdictional Challenge to Superior Court Information Rejected
Mr. Hernandez challenged his conviction on the ground that the the superior court information (SCI) upon which he was prosecuted was jurisdictionally defective because he was not held for the action of a grand jury by the local criminal court as required by CPL 195.10 (1) (a). On appeal in People v Hernandez (2009 NY Slip Op 04570 4th Dept 6/5/2009) the Court finds that “the record establishes that defendant was arraigned by the...
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