People v. Arjune

89 N.E.3d 1207, 67 N.Y.S.3d 526, 30 N.Y.3d 347
CourtCourt for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors
DecidedNovember 20, 2017
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 89 N.E.3d 1207 (People v. Arjune) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Arjune, 89 N.E.3d 1207, 67 N.Y.S.3d 526, 30 N.Y.3d 347 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2017).

Opinions

STEIN, J.

*1208***349In People v. Syville, 15 N.Y.3d 391, 912 N.Y.S.2d 477, 938 N.E.2d 910 (2010), we held that, in rare circumstances, a defendant may seek coram nobis relief ***350despite failing to move for an extension **528of time to file a notice of appeal within the one-year grace period provided by CPL 460.30. Specifically, we concluded that coram *1209nobis may be available for a defendant who demonstrated that he or she timely requested that trial counsel file a notice of appeal, the attorney failed to comply, and the omission could not reasonably have been discovered within the one-year time limit (see id. at 400-401, 912 N.Y.S.2d 477, 938 N.E.2d 910 ). Defendant now asks us to expand Syville to situations in which retained trial counsel filed a timely notice of appeal but allegedly failed to advise the defendant of his or her right to poor person relief, or to take any action when served with a motion to dismiss the appeal years after the notice of appeal was filed. Because defendant has not met his burden of proving that counsel was ineffective, we decline to expand Syville under the circumstances presented here.

I.

Defendant, an English-speaking immigrant from Suriname, asserts that he is minimally literate and has cognitive limitations, which admittedly did not prevent him from maintaining employment in construction, managing independent living skills, taking his elderly mother to doctor appointments and ensuring that she took her medication, and helping his girlfriend's teenage child complete her homework. Defendant immigrated to the United States in 2006. In 2008, he was charged with attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, tampering with physical evidence, and possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. The charges arose out of an incident in which defendant used a boxcutter to stab another man in the chest, stomach and leg, and then hid the boxcutter-which was covered in blood-in a ceiling tile in the bathroom of the restaurant where the stabbing took place. Defendant retained counsel, who asserted a justification defense at the ensuing jury trial. Counsel was able to obtain defendant's acquittal on the attempted murder and first-degree assault charges. Defendant was convicted, however, of tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. He was sentenced to an aggregate term of 1 to 3 years in prison.

At sentencing, the court clerk stated, "[l]et the record reflect the defendant is being handed a notice of appeal." The People ***351have provided us with the standard "Notice of Defendant of His Right to Appeal" that is handed to all Queens County defendants.1 Counsel filed a notice of appeal on defendant's behalf the day after sentencing.

Defendant was released from prison in March 2010, four months after being sentenced. He did not retain an attorney, move for poor person relief or attempt to obtain assistance in perfecting the appeal. In October 2013, approximately four years after the notice of appeal was filed, the People moved in the Appellate Division to dismiss the appeal as abandoned. As required by CPL 470.60, the People sent a copy of the motion to dismiss both to defendant at his last known residence and to counsel. Neither defendant nor counsel **529responded, and the Appellate Division dismissed the appeal in December 2013.

One year later, in December 2014, defendant was remanded to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement *1210for deportation and was released on bond. Defendant's immigration attorney referred him to an appellate indigent defense provider, who moved to reinstate defendant's appeal in April 2015. Although the People filed a response taking no position on the motion, the Appellate Division denied it.2 In October 2015, nearly six years after the notice of appeal was filed, defendant moved for a writ of error coram nobis, claiming that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel in perfecting his appeal.

In connection with his coram nobis application, defendant submitted an affidavit in which he stated, without proof, that counsel did not speak with him during or after his trial about an appeal, about the fact that his conviction could subject him to deportation, or about poor person relief. He averred that he did not know that a notice of appeal was filed and that he would have pursued the appeal if he knew about the deportation ***352consequences of his conviction and his right to an attorney.3 Trial counsel also submitted an affirmation in which he stated that he was retained to represent defendant at trial and filed a notice of appeal on defendant's behalf but, after he did so, he did not remember speaking to defendant about how to perfect the appeal. Counsel indicated that he believed his representation, as retained trial counsel, ended after the filing of the notice of appeal because "[i]t was understood that [he] was trial and not appellate counsel." Counsel also stated that he had no recollection of receiving the People's motion to dismiss the appeal.

The Appellate Division denied the coram nobis motion, without opinion ( 138 A.D.3d 877, 29 N.Y.S.3d 475 [2d Dept.2016] ), and a Judge of this Court granted defendant leave to appeal ( 27 N.Y.3d 1148, 39 N.Y.S.3d 383, 62 N.E.3d 123 [2016] ).

II.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

The People v. Jorge Espinosa
New York Court of Appeals, 2023
The People v. Omar Alvarez
New York Court of Appeals, 2019
People v. Alvarez
125 N.E.3d 117 (Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors, 2019)
People v. Grimes
32 N.Y.3d 302 (New York Court of Appeals, 2018)
People v. Tiger
32 N.Y.3d 91 (New York Court of Appeals, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
89 N.E.3d 1207, 67 N.Y.S.3d 526, 30 N.Y.3d 347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-arjune-nycterr-2017.