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/.
Police Ignorance Is An Excuse Under Federal, But Not New York, Law
by Jill Paperno, Esq., author of Representing the Accused:A Practical Guide to Criminal Defense and Brian Shiffrin, Esq., Easton Thompson Kasperek Shiffrin LLP On December 15, 2014, in Heien v. North Carolina, the United States Supreme Court found that a police officer’s mistaken belief that the law required two working brake lights, when it only required one, which led to a stop and consent search of a vehicle, was reasonable, and as such, the product of the...
read moreWhich Came First, the Chicken, the Egg, the Search or the Arrest?
by Jill Paperno, Esq., author of Representing the Accused:A Practical Guide to Criminal Defense When you are handling probable cause hearings in which you are seeking to suppress evidence obtained as a result of a search, you must be acutely aware of the claimed (or potentially claimed) reason for any search, the timing of the arrest and the timing of the search. If a search is justified as “incident to arrest” you should attempt to elicit...
read moreCommencement of Counsel Upon Requests on Behalf of Indigents Being Questioned by Police
by Jill Paperno, Esq., author of Representing the Accused: A Practical Guide to Criminal Defense And justice for all! During a week when many of us are questioning the criminal justice system’s handling of cases, I wanted to share one case reflecting that our continued struggle to eliminate disparities in how defendants are treated can pay off. In People v. Rankin, a case in which Judge John DeMarco presided in Monroe County Court, Rochester...
read moreWhat does a Mandate and Remand for Re-Sentencing from the Second Circuit really mean?
It happens occasionally. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals issues a Summary Order affirming the judgment of conviction and remanding the matter for re-sentencing only. In the USA v. Dawn White, 13-1041-cr, the Circuit provided the following, REMAND for re-sentencing only, “with directions to the District Court either to make specific findings to support the enhancement under U.S.S.G§2B1.1(b)(11)(C)(I) or to sentence White without regard to that enhancement.” What’s the analysis? First, when there...
read moreWhat Constitutes Reasonable Suspicion In the Context of an Anonymous Tip
byJames Eckert, Esq.Assistant Monroe County Public Defender In People v Argryris ( _NY3d_, 2014 NY Slip Op 08220, 2014 WL 6633480 [11/25/14]), the Court of Appeals rendered a simple four-judge Memorandum decision on the issue of what constitutes reasonable suspicion in the context of an anonymous tip. Unfortunately, the memorandum fails to answer the question. The Memorandum simply says that because (in the first two of the three consolidated appeals) there is record support...
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