Posts by Brian Shiffrin Esq.

September 2007 Fourth Department Decisions

Posted by on 12:06 am in Blog | 0 comments

There were only two reversals in criminal appeals this term, People v Rodriguez (2007 NY Slip Op 07123)(Here, discussed previously) and People v Jones 2007 NY Slip Op 07249)(Here), in which after a remand for the trial court to make fact finding on whether the search was consensual, the Court that the People did not meet their burden of demonstrating the legality of the police conduct, and thus the court suppressed the tangible evidence...

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Renewal Required

Posted by on 12:05 am in Blog | 0 comments

The need to renew previously made requests has been in the news recently with lots of reminders that if you don’t a request to be on the “Do Not Call Registry” you can expect a bunch of unwanted phone calls ( Example). And for years New York courts have been reminding us, in not quite so friendly a fashion, a defendant’s legal sufficiency arguments are not properly preserved for appellate review unless a motion...

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No Authority for No Kids

Posted by on 12:04 am in Blog | 0 comments

Three years ago there was world wide media coverage of a decision by a Family Court judge in upstate New York which ordered that a woman with a history of drug abuse not have have any more children (Example: here ). The actual language of the order was that the woman shall not get pregnant again until and unless she has actually obtained custody and care of [all her children]. This do not procreate...

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Oh!

Posted by on 12:02 am in Blog | 0 comments

In People v Rivera, 2007 NY Slip Op 06583,the Court of Appeals had an opportunity to provide courts and practitioners guidance as to the circumstances when a prospective juror’s use of the words “try” and “believe,” in response to being questioned about whether he could be fair, is so equivocal that a for cause challenge must be granted. Perhaps the best measure of how difficult it has been for lower courts to apply the...

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