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/.
King Solomon and Guilty Pleas
Mr. Brown (_ NY3d __, 2010 NY Slip Op 01376 [2/18/10]) was in jail while awaiting prosecution on a robbery charge. From the moment of arrest he consistently proclaimed his innocence. Then the defendant’s son was in the hospital and in a coma as a result of multiple gunshot wounds. Jail officials deny the man’s request for permission to go hospital to see his child. At the next court appearance, the court informed of...
read moreAnother Wrongful Conviction Exoneration After a False Confession
On Thursday, February 5, 2010, Freddie Peacock became the 250th person exonerated by DNA evidence after conviction, when his 1976 rape conviction was vacated in Monroe County. The court vacated Mr. Peacock’s conviction pursuant to a motion filed jointly by the Innocence Project, ETKS partner Donald M. Thompson, and Kelly Wolford, chief of appeals for the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office. As detailed here Mr. Peacock, fought longer for his exoneration after his release...
read moreMelendez-Diaz Lives. Now Seek to Have it Applied
As we have previously written, in 2004, the United States Supreme Court, in Crawford v. Washington (541 U.S. 36 [2004]), overruled its prior holding in Ohio v Roberts ( 41 U.S. 36 [2004]) that reliability of hearsay evidence is the test for admissibility, and held that “Where testimonial evidence is at issue, however, the Sixth Amendment demands what the common law required: unavailability and a prior opportunity for cross-examination…. [T]he only indicium of reliability...
read moreForcing Inmates to Particpate in Programs In WhichThey Must Admit Guilt Described As An Unfair “Hobson’s Choice”
One of the most difficult issues persons convicted of sex crimes have is how to participate in sex offender programs required for release or favorable classification without admitting conduct that was denied at trial and may be denied on re-trail, if an appeal is successful. The Fourth Department, in People v Kearns (2009 NY Slip Op 09800 [4th Dept 12/30/09]), recognized this dilemma and held it was wrong for a inmate to be penalized...
read morePossession of Cash a Month after Alleged Drug Sale Inadmissible
A defendant’s possession of case at time of arrest is not admissilbe if not linke to criminality. Thus, in People v Sumter (2009 NY Slip Op 09782 [4th Dept 12/30/09]), the Appellate Division, Fourth Department held that the trial court erred in admitting in evidence testimony concerning the seizure of $1,027 in cash from defendant at the time of his arrest, as well as the cash itself. Defendant was arrested over one month after...
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