Can the Judge judge your case?
by Jill Paperno,Special Assistant Monroe County Public Defender As many of you know, the judge you start with in a case is not always the judge you end with. There are rules governing which judges may handle which cases, and the circumstances in which cases may be transferred. You may wish to object to assignment of a judge on your case on one of several grounds – either the judge is not authorized by...
read moreReckless Driving Causing Death Held Not To Be Depraved Indifference Murder
byDrew R. DuBrin,Special Assistant Monroe County Public Defender In People v Prindle (_NY3d_, 2011 NY Slip Op 01320 [2/22/11]) Mr. Prindle urged that the evidence of depraved indifference was insufficient to support his murder conviction, where a passenger of another car was killed when Prindle collided his van into the other car during a police chase. Mr. Prindle, who was caught stealing snow plow blades in Brighton, a Rochester suburb, sped onto Monroe Avenue...
read more30.30 and Superceding Accusatory Instruments
by Dre R. DuBrin, Special Assistant Monroe County Public Defender In People v Farkas (_NY_, 2011 NY Slip Op 01318 [2/22/11]), the Court of Appeals decided a very important 30.30 case – against the defendant- but in so ruling confirmed principles that will often help defendants seeking to move to dismiss a superseding accusatory on 30.30 grounds. In Farkas, the defendant was issued an appearance ticket for assault in the third degree. He was...
read moreEavesdropping 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...
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