People v. Howell

183 Misc. 2d 16, 703 N.Y.S.2d 876, 1999 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 550
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 17, 1999
StatusPublished

This text of 183 Misc. 2d 16 (People v. Howell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Howell, 183 Misc. 2d 16, 703 N.Y.S.2d 876, 1999 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 550 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1999).

Opinion

[17]*17OPINION OF THE COURT

William Mogulescu, J.

Defendant moves1 to dismiss counts 35, 36, 37, and 38 of the instant indictment on the ground that he has been denied his right to a speedy trial pursuant to CPL 30.30 (1) (a). For the reasons set forth below, defendant’s motion is denied.

Defendant was arrested on May 11, 1998, and charged by way of a felony complaint with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree (Penal Law § 220.39 [1]), three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree (Penal Law § 220.16 [1]), and criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds (Penal Law § 220.44 [2]). The charges stemmed from an alleged sale which occurred on that date in front of 623 Manida Avenue in Bronx County at 2:48 p.m. Defendant was arraigned upon the felony complaint on May 12, 1998, at which time the matter was adjourned to May 15, 1998. On May 15th, the People’s application to reduce the felony charges to two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree (Penal Law § 220.03) was granted, and, through several adjournments, the case proceeded as an accusatory instrument charging only misdemeanor counts. Subsequently, on December 9, 1998, the defendant was arraigned on the instant indictment, which included in its 137 counts the four counts which were originally charged in the felony complaint.2 The People acknowledge that their speedy trial obligations commenced from the filing of the original felony complaint, but relying on People v Sinistaj (67 NY2d 236 [1986]), argue that any exclusions which were applicable during the pendency of the misdemeanor accusatory instrument would remain applicable in considering any preindictment delay. Defendant contends that the factual scenario before this court is distinct from the facts of Sinistaj in that, unlike in Sinistaj, here the People did not file a superceding indictment, but rather dismissed the original felony charges. Consequently, counsel argues that the People cannot now be given the benefit for any exclusion arising under the misdemeanor accusatory instrument as the People could never have been ready for trial on the felony charges now contained in the indictment while the case was prosecuted as a misdemeanor in criminal court. In this regard, defendant argues that this case is closer to the holding in People v Osgood (52 NY2d 37 [1980]), [18]*18than to the rule of Sinistaj,3 and that, in fact, Sinistaj does not apply to the facts of this case.

The Court of Appeals first addressed the issue of successive accusatory instruments in the context of speedy trial considerations in People v Lomax (50 NY2d 351 [1980]). In that case, a felony complaint followed by indictment was dismissed for insufficient evidence before the Grand Jury. The People were given leave to re-present the matter to the Grand Jury and nine days later filed a second indictment encompassing the same crimes contained in the first indictment. In determining the propriety of defendant’s speedy trial motion, the Court deemed the action to have commenced with the filing of the original accusatory instrument. In so holding, the Court stated, “there can be only one criminal action for each set of criminal charges brought against a particular defendant, notwithstanding that the original accusatory instrument may be replaced or superseded during the course of the action * * * even * * * where- the original accusatory instrument was dismissed outright and the defendant was subsequently haled into court under an entirely new indictment.” (Supra, at 356.)

The holding" of Lomax (supra) was extended by the Court of Appeals in People v Osgood (52 NY2d 37 [1980], supra). In joined appeals, the Court was confronted with factual scenarios where the People were repeatedly not ready to proceed with felony hearings following the filing of felony complaints, resulting in the trial courts’ dismissals of the complaints. In both cases, the defendants were subsequently indicted for the same offenses contained in the original felony complaints; defendant Haynes was indicted within six months from the filing of the original accusatory instrument while defendant Osgood was indicted almost seven months after her arraignment on the original instrument.4

Finding that the commencement of the criminal action related back to the filing of the original accusatory instrument, the Court rejected the People’s reading of Lomax (supra) as ap[19]*19plying to only those situations where a defendant is held, or deemed to be held, for further proceedings after dismissal of the original accusatory instrument. Rather, the Court held that where a successive indictment can be traced to the original accusatory instrument, the successive indictment is deemed to have directly derived from the earlier accusatory instrument.5 The Court went on to rule that the criminal action which commenced with the filing of the original felony complaint is not terminated when that complaint is dismissed, but rather “ ‘terminates with the imposition of sentence or some other final disposition in a criminal court of the last accusatory instrument filed in the case’ * * * Here, the dismissal of the felony complaint may have finally disposed of the first accusatory instrument in the case. But as long as the District Attorney is free to continue the prosecution by obtaining an indictment, dismissal of the felony complaint cannot be said to have disposed of, finally, or otherwise, the last accusatory instrument ‘in the case’.” (People v Osgood, supra, at 44-45 [citation omitted].) In so holding, the Court observed that the legislative intent behind the imposition of a six-month ready rule was to eliminate the potential for prejudicial effects inherent in unjustified delays and that the statute was not to be construed so as to provide the People with incentive to conduct a dilatory prosecution.

While Osgood (supra) extended the People’s speedy trial obligations to that time between the filing of two accusatory instruments, the Court did not reach the issue of excludable time arising from the first instrument and its application to the successive instrument; that issue was addressed in People v Sinistaj (67 NY2d 236 [1986], supra), wherein an indictment charging criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree under subdivision (4) of that statute6 was replaced with an indictment charging the same crime but a different subdivision upon the People’s realization that the defendant was erroneously charged with the subdivision which excludes liability for possession of a weapon in a place of business. Having been accused of possessing a firearm in his office, the second indict[20]*20ment charged defendant with the crime of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree under subdivision (1) which, although based on the same underlying facts as the original indictment, contained the additional element that defendant had been previously convicted of a felony.7

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Related

People v. England
636 N.E.2d 1387 (New York Court of Appeals, 1994)
People v. Lomax
406 N.E.2d 793 (New York Court of Appeals, 1980)
People v. Osgood
417 N.E.2d 507 (New York Court of Appeals, 1980)
People v. Sinistaj
492 N.E.2d 1209 (New York Court of Appeals, 1986)
People v. Kanter
173 A.D.2d 560 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1991)
People v. Cajigas
224 A.D.2d 370 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1996)
People v. Terry
225 A.D.2d 306 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1996)
People v. Cambridge
230 A.D.2d 649 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
183 Misc. 2d 16, 703 N.Y.S.2d 876, 1999 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-howell-nysupct-1999.