People v. Prisco

32 Misc. 3d 349
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedApril 20, 2011
StatusPublished

This text of 32 Misc. 3d 349 (People v. Prisco) 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. Prisco, 32 Misc. 3d 349 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2011).

Opinion

[350]*350OPINION OF THE COURT

Elisa S. Koenderman, J.

The defendant, Neil Prisco, is charged with criminal contempt in the second degree (Penal Law § 215.50 [3]) and two counts of aggravated harassment in the second degree (Penal Law § 240.30 [1] [a], [b]). The defendant moves to dismiss the criminal action against him on the ground that he has been denied his right to a speedy trial pursuant to Criminal Procedure Law § 30.30 (1) (b), alleging that more than 90 days have elapsed since his arraignment. Because the court calculates that more than 90 days are chargeable to the People, the defendant’s motion to dismiss is granted.

Pursuant to CPL 30.30 (1) (b), the People must be ready for trial within 90 days of commencement of a criminal action charging a defendant with a misdemeanor punishable by a sentence of imprisonment of more than three months. Although a criminal action commences when the accusatory instrument is filed, counting for speedy trial purposes starts the following day (see People v Stiles, 70 NY2d 765 [1987]).

Whether the People have satisfied their obligation to be ready under CPL 30.30 is generally determined by calculating the time between the filing of the first accusatory instrument and the People’s declaration of readiness, then subtracting statutorily excludable periods of delay and finally adding any additional delays that transpire after readiness has been declared when such delays are attributable to the People and are ineligible for any exclusions under the statute (see People v Cortes, 80 NY2d 201, 208 [1992]).

For the People to be “ready for trial” under CPL 30.30, they must meet two requirements. First, they must communicate their readiness either on the record in open court or by a written notice simultaneously sent to defense counsel and filed with the court clerk (see People v Kendzia, 64 NY2d 331, 337 [1985]). Second, the People must declare their readiness only when they are presently ready to proceed to trial (see id.).

The People are presently ready to proceed to trial when they “have done all that is required of them to bring the case to a point where it may be tried” (People v England, 84 NY2d 1, 4 [1994]). Trial readiness is established where

“the People have a valid accusatory instrument upon which the defendant may be brought to trial, where the People have complied with their obliga[351]*351tion to produce for trial a defendant in their custody and where the People have complied with all pending proceedings required to be decided before trial can commence” (People v Caussade, 162 AD2d 4, 8 [2d Dept 1990] [citations omitted]).

Once the People have declared their readiness for trial they have satisfied their obligation under the statute (see People v Giordano, 56 NY2d 524 [1982]) and are not chargeable with any delay in proceeding due to court congestion (see People v Chavis, 91 NY2d 500, 502 [1998]). The People are chargeable only with delay they have caused which “directly implicates [their] ability to proceed with trial” (Cortes, 80 NY2d at 210).

Delays occasioned by adjournments which are requested or consented to by the defendant are not chargeable to the People (see People v Worley, 66 NY2d 523, 525 [1985]; People v Kopciowski, 68 NY2d 615, 617 [1986]). Specifically, the period of delay resulting from a defendant’s pretrial motion and the time during which it is under consideration by the court is excludable as having been “caused by the defendant for his own benefit” (Worley, 66 NY2d at 527; see CPL 30.30 [4] [a]).

On June 9, 2010, the defendant was arraigned on the misdemeanor complaint and the case was adjourned to July 7, 2010 for the People to file and serve a supporting deposition to convert the complaint to an information. The People concede that there are 27 days chargeable to them for this adjournment.

On July 7, 2010, the People filed and served a supporting deposition from the complainant. Nevertheless, the court declined to deem the complaint an information, ruling that the complaint was defective because it was jurisdictionally and facially insufficient. The court adjourned the matter to July 29, 2010 for the People to file a superceding information. Since the People did not have a valid accusatory instrument upon which they could try the defendant (see People v Colon, 59 NY2d 921 [1983]; see also Caussade, 162 AD2d at 8), there are 22 days chargeable to the People for this adjournment.

On July 29, 2010, the People filed and served an amended supporting deposition from the complainant and announced ready for trial. The court set a motion schedule at defense counsel’s request and adjourned the matter to September 24, 2010 for decision. Off calendar on August 18, 2010, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss for facial insufficiency. On September 24, 2010, the People filed and served their affirmation in opposition to the defendant’s motion and the court again [352]*352adjourned the matter for decision to October 29, 2010. On October 29, 2010, the court adjourned the matter for decision to November 18, 2010. These adjournments are excludable as a period of delay resulting from the defendant’s pretrial motion and the time during which it was under consideration by the court (see CPL 30.30 [4] [a]; see also Worley, 66 NY2d at 525). There are zero days chargeable to the People for this period.

On November 18, 2010, the court rendered a written decision and order finding that the complaint was defective because it was jurisdictionally and facially insufficient. Nevertheless, the court denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss and granted the People leave to file a superceding information. The court then adjourned the case to January 11, 2011 for the People to comply with its decision and order.

The adjournment following a decision on a pretrial motion generally is not chargeable to the People. The rationale underlying the exclusion of this period is that after the court renders a decision on a pretrial motion the People are entitled to a reasonable time to prepare for hearings and/or trial, and that the delay therefore results from motion practice (see People v Wells, 16 AD3d 174 [1st Dept 2005] [adjournment properly excluded as a reasonable time for People to prepare for hearings ordered by the court on pretrial suppression motion]; People v Reed, 19 AD3d 312, 314 [1st Dept 2005]; People v Forbes, 7 AD3d 473, 474 [1st Dept 2004]; People v Fleming, 13 AD3d 102 [1st Dept 2004] [adjournment after court decided defendant’s omnibus motion excludable since People were entitled to a reasonable time to prepare for trial]; People v Rene, 292 AD2d 302 [1st Dept 2002] [adjournment properly excluded under CPL 30.30 (4) (a) as a reasonable period of time for the People to prepare for the newly ordered hearing]; People v Hayes, 291 AD2d 334, 334-335 [1st Dept 2002] [adjournment to prepare for trial after denial of speedy trial motion was reasonable]; People v Roebuck, 279 AD2d 350, 351 [1st Dept 2001]; People v Ailes, 268 AD2d 370 [1st Dept 2000]; People v Diaz, 275 AD2d 652, 653 [1st Dept 2000]; People v Moolenaar, 262 AD2d 60 [1st Dept 1999] [adjournment for People to prepare for suppression hearings after decision on omnibus motion was a reasonable period of delay resulting from motion practice]; People v David,

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Related

People v. Chavis
695 N.E.2d 1110 (New York Court of Appeals, 1998)
People v. England
636 N.E.2d 1387 (New York Court of Appeals, 1994)
People v. Kopciowski
496 N.E.2d 211 (New York Court of Appeals, 1986)
People v. Giordano
434 N.E.2d 1333 (New York Court of Appeals, 1982)
People v. Colon
453 N.E.2d 548 (New York Court of Appeals, 1983)
People v. Kendzia
476 N.E.2d 287 (New York Court of Appeals, 1985)
People v. Worley
488 N.E.2d 1228 (New York Court of Appeals, 1985)
People v. Stiles
514 N.E.2d 1368 (New York Court of Appeals, 1987)
People v. Nuccio
575 N.E.2d 111 (New York Court of Appeals, 1991)
People v. Cortes
80 N.Y.2d 201 (New York Court of Appeals, 1992)
People v. Forbes
7 A.D.3d 473 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2004)
People v. Wells
16 A.D.3d 174 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2005)
People v. Reed
19 A.D.3d 312 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2005)
People v. Osorio
39 A.D.3d 400 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2007)
People v. Caussade
162 A.D.2d 4 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1990)
People v. Greene
223 A.D.2d 474 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1996)
People v. Chambers
226 A.D.2d 284 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1996)
People v. Roberts
236 A.D.2d 233 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1997)
People v. Heine
238 A.D.2d 212 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1997)
People v. Hairston
242 A.D.2d 466 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1997)

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Bluebook (online)
32 Misc. 3d 349, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-prisco-nycrimct-2011.