People v. Hill

835 N.E.2d 654, 5 N.Y.3d 772, 801 N.Y.S.2d 794, 2005 N.Y. LEXIS 1573

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.

Defendant furnished the prosecutor with a list of alibi witnesses seeking to have them testify before the grand jury. When presenting the case, the prosecutor told the grand jury that he had received a request from the defense asking that the grand jurors “consider and vote whether or not you want to hear from the following witnesses,” and gave only their names. The foreperson asked the prosecutor, “Can we ask you anything about the witnesses? I mean were they witnesses of the crime or . . . ?” Although the prosecutor knew that the list referred to alibi witnesses, he kept that information from the grand jury and said, “I can’t tell you anything. I don’t know.” Having been given only the names of the witnesses, the grand jury was left with no indication as to who these witnesses were or whether they could contribute anything to the case. With no basis to determine whether to call the witnesses, the grand jury voted not to hear them and ultimately returned a true bill against defendant. Upon defendant’s motion, County Court dismissed the indictment with leave to re-present. This ruling was correct, considering that at the pretrial stage of the proceeding, it would not be possible to predict that the prejudice could or would be cured at trial or by guilty plea.

We agree with the lower courts that, under the circumstances of this case, the prosecutor gave an inaccurate and misleading answer to the grand jury’s legitimate inquiry, thus substantially undermining the integrity of the proceeding and potentially prejudicing defendant (CPL 210.20 [1] [c]).