People v. Jaoui

52 Misc. 3d 769, 31 N.Y.S.3d 839
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedMay 16, 2016
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 52 Misc. 3d 769 (People v. Jaoui) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Criminal Court of the City of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Jaoui, 52 Misc. 3d 769, 31 N.Y.S.3d 839 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Melissa A. Crane, J.

[770]*770This case involves the thorny issue of the circumstances by which a court should charge the People with speedy trial time under People v Sibblies (22 NY3d 1174 [2014]), and two Appellate Division, First Department cases that follow Sibblies: People v Rodriguez (135 AD3d 587 [1st Dept 2016]) and People v Brown (126 AD3d 516 [1st Dept 2015], lv granted 25 NY3d 1160 [2015]). On September 1, 2015, the court arraigned defendant. The People charged defendant with one count of driving while intoxicated (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192 [3]), an unclassified misdemeanor, and one count of driving while ability impaired (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192 [1]), a traffic infraction. Accordingly, the People have 90 chargeable days to bring this case to trial.

On April 6, 2016, defendant filed a motion to dismiss claiming that the People had exceeded their statutory time limits under Criminal Procedure Law § 30.30. Defendant argues that, when the People file an off-calendar certificate of readiness (COR), and then, at the next court date, answer “not ready” without providing an explanation, the court should charge the entire period to the People (defendant’s motion ¶¶ 10, 11). The People oppose the motion. For the reasons that follow, the court finds 88 chargeable days. Consequently, the court denies defendant’s motion.

Legal Background

The People must be ready for trial within 90 days of the commencement of the criminal action when defendant is accused of a misdemeanor carrying a sentence of up to one year’s incarceration (CPL 30.30 [1] [b]). Although a criminal action commences with the filing of an accusatory instrument, computation for speedy trial purposes commences on the next day (People v Stiles, 70 NY2d 765 [1987]). To determine whether the People satisfied their obligation to be ready under CPL 30.30, the court must calculate the time between the filing of the first accusatory instrument and the People’s declaration of readiness, then subtract any statutorily excludable periods of delay, and finally, add any periods of postreadiness delay attributable to the People where no statutory exclusions apply (People v Cortes, 80 NY2d 201, 208 [1992]).

The People may declare readiness in two ways: (1) in open court; or (2) by serving and filing an off-calendar COR. A COR is presumed truthful and accurate (see People v Sibblies, 22 NY3d 1174, 1180-1181 [2014], citing People v Miller, 113 AD3d 885, 887 [3d Dept 2014]; People v Acosta, 249 AD2d 161, 161 [771]*771[1st Dept 1998]). Without more, the People’s answer of “not ready” will not render the COR illusory. The People only need to be actually ready at the time they filed the COR.

Defendant, then, bears the burden of rebutting the presumption that a COR is truthful and accurate, with proof that the People’s readiness statement did not accurately reflect the People’s position at the time (see People v Sibblies, 22 NY3d 1174, 1181 [2014]; see also People v Newland, 138 AD3d 611, 611 [1st Dept 2016] [“defendant failed to overcome the presumption that the People’s July 6 certificate of readiness was a truthful statement of present readiness”]).

People v Sibblies

In Sibblies, the Court of Appeals issued a plurality opinion. Although the six Judges agreed that the COR at issue was illusory, the Court split evenly (3-3) as to the underlying rationale for that conclusion.

The People in that case had filed an off-calendar COR on February 22, 2007 — 14 days after filing a misdemeanor information (22 NY3d at 1175). After filing this COR, but before the next court appearance, the People requested medical records. Finally, on March 28, the next court date, the People stated they were not ready to proceed, because they were “continuing to investigate and [were] awaiting medical records” (id. at 1175-1176).

Chief Judge Lippman issued one opinion. He would have required the People to demonstrate an exceptional fact or circumstance, that arose after the People’s declaration of readiness, to explain their unreadiness at the next court date (People v Sibblies, 22 NY3d 1174, 1179 [2014]).

Judge Graffeo ruled on narrower grounds. Applying existing speedy trial principles, Judge Graffeo agreed the COR at issue was illusory because “the prosecutor gave no explanation for the change in circumstances between the initial statement of readiness and the subsequent admission that the People were not ready to proceed without the medical records” (People v Sibblies, 22 NY3d 1174, 1181 [2014]). Further, the record did not indicate that the People intended to change their theory of the case (see People v Sibblies, 22 NY3d at 1181, citing People v Bonilla, 94 AD3d 633 [1st Dept 2012] [“the record does not support an inference that the People made an initial strategic decision to proceed, if necessary, with a minimal prima facie case, but later determined to present additional evidence” (cita[772]*772tion omitted)]). Thus, Chief Judge Lippman’s approach would require an exceptional circumstance in order to toll speedy trial time, while Judge Graffeo’s would not.

First Department Cases after Sibblies

The Appellate Division, First Department has adopted Judge Graffeo’s narrower holding in two speedy trial decisions: (1) People v Rodriguez (135 AD3d 587, 588-589 [1st Dept 2016] [“(h)owever, even though Judge Graffeo’s concurrence required some proof that the readiness statement did not accurately reflect the People’s position, because the People ‘gave no explanation for the change in circumstances between the initial statement of readiness and (the admitted later inability) to proceed’ (22 NY3d at 1181), the (Sibblies) decision is broader and applies to the excuses in this appeal as well” (emphasis added)]); and (2) People v Brown (126 AD3d 516, 517-518 [1st Dept 2015], lv granted 25 NY3d 1160 [2015] [“(f)ollowing analogous precedent pertaining to plurality opinions by the United States Supreme Court, we apply the narrower approach of Judge Graffeo, which leaves intact well-settled law”]).

In Rodriguez, the People admitted that the assigned prosecutor was “on trial” before filing an off-calendar COR, and “on trial” after filing the COR (see People v Rodriguez, 135 AD3d 587, 588 [2016]). Unclear to the Court was whether the People had filed an off-calendar COR, while, at the same time, the ADA was on trial in a different case, thereby rendering the COR illusory (id.). By contrast, in Brown, there was nothing in the record to cast doubt upon the truthfulness and accuracy of the People’s COR (see People v Brown, 126 AD3d 516, 518-519 [2015]). Thus, applying Judge Graffeo’s approach, the facts in Rodriguez presented an illusory COR whereas the facts in Brown did not.

Judge Graffeo’s approach makes sense. The delays associated with bringing a case to trial are serious and well known (see William Glaberson, In Misdemeanor Cases, Long Waits for Elusive Trials, NY Times, Apr. 30, 2013; see also Benjamin Weiser & James C. McKinley Jr., Chronic Bronx Court Delays Deny Defendants Due Process, Suit Says, NY Times, May 10, 2016). Some delays involve the court. Some delays involve the People and some involve defense counsel.

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Related

People v. Chalupa
57 Misc. 3d 815 (Criminal Court of the City of New York, 2017)

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Bluebook (online)
52 Misc. 3d 769, 31 N.Y.S.3d 839, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-jaoui-nycrimct-2016.