In addition to maintaining this blog on its website, ETKS has long-maintained a separate blog entitled “New York Criminal Defense,” accessible at http://newyorkcriminaldefense.blogspot.com/.
Eavesdropping Warrant Requirement
On February 15th, the Court of Appeals decided People v Rabb and People v Mason (_NY3d_, 2011 NY Slip Op 01050 [2/15/11]). It reviewed a determination of the Appellate Division that requirements for an eavesdropping warrant had been met in a racketeering investigation into a labor coalition which had been alleged to engage various coercive tactics. The requirements, set forth in CPL 700.15 (4), are that an eavesdropping warrant application must demonstrate that normal...
read moreAttorneys Have Duty To Advise Client Whether To Accept Plea Offer
In Young v Zonn ( __ 2011WL 1:04-cv-00363 [WDNY 02/18/11]), a habeas petition was granted based on failure of defense counsel in an Erie County prosecution to give adequate advice to his client as to whether he recommended that the client accept the plea offer. The court explained that Under the performance prong of the Strickland v. Washington,466 U.S. 668 (1984), standard, trial counsel “must give the client the benefit of counsel’s professional advice...
read moreImportant Right To Counsel Holding
In People v Lopez (_NY3d_, 2011 NY Slip Op 01316 [2/22/11]) the Court of Appeal, considerered whether the right to counsel, as set forth in People v Rogers (48 NY2d 167 [1979]), was violated by police interrogation of a defendant in custody in Pennsylvania pending prosecution on Pennsylvania charges, who wasrepresented by a Pennsylvania attorney who had entered that case was lawful where the police, where the police, having never asked, did not knwo...
read moreIrony and the Sex Offender Management and Treatment Act (SOMTA)
There was widespread outrage at the conduct of Nushawn Williams, who was alleged to have had unprotected sex with numerous girls and women despite being told he was HIV positive (see). This failure to inform the women that they risked not merely pregnancy or an STD, but rather a potentially fatal infection, without cure, meant that the sexual encounters were not truly consensual. Indeed, now that Mr. Williams is completing his sentence for a...
read moreAllegations in Support of 440 Motion May Require Holding Hearing to Promote Justice
In People v Campbell (2011 NY Slip Op 00813 [4th Dept 2/11/11]) the Court held that it was error to summarily deny a motion pursuant to CPL 440.10, based on the contention that the defendant was denied effective assistance of counsel because his trial attorney had failed to inform him of potentially exculpatory evidence, i.e., that before the murder an inmate at a state prison had advised the District Attorney that he had information...
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