People v. Saunders

8 Misc. 3d 214
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedMarch 25, 2005
StatusPublished

This text of 8 Misc. 3d 214 (People v. Saunders) 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. Saunders, 8 Misc. 3d 214 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

John H. Wilson, J.

[215]*215Defendant is charged in one complaint with criminally using drug paraphernalia in the second degree (Penal Law § 220.50 [2]), a class A misdemeanor, criminal possession of marihuana in the fifth degree (Penal Law § 221.10 [2]), a class B misdemeanor, and unlawful possession of marihuana (Penal Law § 221.05), a violation. Defendant moves to dismiss the criminal court complaint pursuant to CPL 30.30, asserting that the People have failed to comply with the time limitations imposed upon the prosecution of class A misdemeanors.

A response from the People dated February 8, 2005 was received. The court gave defendant permission to file a surreply, and said surreply, dated March 4, 2005, was also received.

The court also received a further surreply from the People dated March 14, 2005; however, since the court did not give permission to the People to submit any additional arguments, the further surreply will not be considered at this time.1

For the reasons that follow, defendant’s motion to dismiss the criminal court complaint is denied. The court finds that the People are only charged with 29 days in this matter.

On May 11, 2003, at about 12:00 p.m., pursuant to a search warrant issued in New York County Criminal Court, premises in Kings County allegedly frequented by the defendant were entered and searched. Twenty-five grams of marihuana and drug paraphernalia were recovered in the search. While the search was taking place, the defendant arrived at the location, was observed preparing to enter the building, and was arrested. On his person were a key to the apartment and $971 in United States currency.

The defendant was arraigned on May 12, 2003. Bail was set in the amount of $500, and the case was adjourned to May 16, 2003 for conversion. Excluding the day of arraignment from our calculations, this entire adjournment of three days is chargeable to the People. (See, People v Stiles, 70 NY2d 765 [1987]; People v Eckert, 117 Misc 2d 504 [Syracuse City Ct 1983].)

On May 16, 2003 the People filed and served a lab report and supporting deposition, thus converting the complaint to an in[216]*216formation. On that same date, the People also announced their readiness for trial on the record. The matter was then adjourned to June 10, 2003, for the People to provide the defendant with discovery. There is no dispute that this time is excluded, as is the time from June 10, 2003 until June 16, 2003, when discovery was provided to the defendant.2

Thereafter, defendant began a process of discovery and motion practice that stretched over the next 15 adjourn dates. In particular, defendant seeks to have the People charged with the time from June 16, 2003, when the defendant first requested a copy of the search warrant, until June 23, 2004, when the court ordered a hearing to determine whether or not the defendant had standing to challenge the search of the subject premises.

This one-year time period is broken down into three identifiable phases: (a) June 16, 2003, when the defendant requested a copy of the search warrant, to October 15, 2003, when the People produced the search warrant, and moved for a protective order; (b) October 31, 2003, when the court approved certain redactions to the search warrant, to November 13, 2003, when the People objected to, and sought to reargue, certain further redactions made to the search warrant; and (c) November 24, 2003, the date on which the search warrant, with certain court-approved redactions was served on the defendant, and the defendant requested time to bring a motion to controvert the search warrant, and June 23, 2004, the date on which the court ordered the aforementioned hearing on the defendant’s standing.

Addressing time period (a), in view of the holdings in People v Caussade (162 AD2d 4 [2d Dept 1990], lv denied 76 NY2d 984 [1990]) and People v Cole (90 AD2d 27 [3d Dept 1982]), this court declines to charge the People with the time from June 16, 2003 to October 15, 2003.

In Caussade, the Second Department ruled that a seven-month delay by the prosecution in complying with a defendant’s discovery demands will not serve to vitiate an otherwise valid statement of readiness. (162 AD2d at 8.) Here, the delay in providing the search warrant was approximately four months, and the People state a valid reason for the nonproduction of the materials sought by the defense.

[217]*217It is important to note that the Caussade court specifically held that the failure of a district attorney to comply with the mandates of CPL article 240 relative to discovery is in no way inconsistent with the prosecution’s continued readiness for trial. (162 AD2d at 8.) The Court distinguished the failure to comply with discovery, which could be addressed by a motion to compel under CPL 240.40, and a failure to perform an act which results in a delay of the prosecution, such as the failure to produce the defendant for trial. (162 AD2d at 10.)

In his surreply, defendant cites two cases in support of his position that the “failure to provide the defendant with search warrant materials prevents a defendant from moving to controvert the warrant and thus prevents the trial from going forward.” (Emphasis added.) These cases are People v McKenna (76 NY2d 59 [1990]) and People v Daley (265 AD2d 566 [2d Dept 1999]).

The McKenna case concerned the People’s failure to provide the Court with grand jury minutes in response to the defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment for a lack of legally sufficient evidence before the grand jury. In Daley, the Court found the People’s delay in providing a redacted copy of a search warrant to the defense to be unjustified and unexcused.

Both McKenna and Daley are distinguishable from the instant matter.

In Daley, the Court held that the failure of the People to prepare a protective order, or provide the defense with a redacted copy of a search warrant, mandated dismissal. The Daley court (at 567) specifically used the word “unexcused” to indicate that the People had no explanation for the delay in producing the documents at issue, thus prejudicing the defense. (See, also, People v Simpkins, 193 Misc 2d 447, 448 [App Term, 1st Dept 2002] [“People’s repeated and unexplained unreadiness to proceed . . . was a direct . . . impediment to the (commencement of trial)”] [internal quotation marks omitted].)

Here, the People have given a reasonable explanation for their delay in producing the search warrant materials — the warrant was ordered by the Criminal Court in Manhattan, not Brooklyn, and copies of the warrant and supporting materials had to be secured from the District Attorney of New York County. Thus, the delay here is not “unexcused” or “unexplained.”

Further, in the instant matter, the defendant has not expressed any prejudice suffered as a result of the delay.

[218]*218As to McKenna, which was discussed extensively in Caussade, the Court

“drew a clear distinction between the delay of the prosecution in providing the materials necessary for the decision of the CPL 210.30 motion, which had to be decided before the trial could go forward,

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Related

People v. Stiles
514 N.E.2d 1368 (New York Court of Appeals, 1987)
People v. McKenna
555 N.E.2d 911 (New York Court of Appeals, 1990)
People v. Hodges
12 A.D.3d 527 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2004)
People v. Fleming
13 A.D.3d 102 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2004)
People v. Cole
90 A.D.2d 27 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1982)
People v. Caussade
162 A.D.2d 4 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1990)
People v. Daley
265 A.D.2d 566 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1999)
People v. Eckert
117 Misc. 2d 504 (Syracuse City Court, 1983)
People v. Sivano
174 Misc. 2d 427 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 1997)
People v. Simpkins
193 Misc. 2d 447 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
8 Misc. 3d 214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-saunders-nycrimct-2005.