People v. Wisdom

98 A.D.3d 241, 948 N.Y.S.2d 351
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided July 11, 2012·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Balkin, J.

This case concerns the elemental rule that witnesses be sworn before testifying and whether violation of that rule in the grand jury renders the proceeding so defective that the “integrity thereof is impaired and prejudice to the defendant may result” (CPL 210.35 [5]). This case also concerns the defendant’s assertion that the People violated his right to a speedy trial under CPL 30.30.

I

On January 31, 1996, in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, the defendant shot Amy Donaldson three times in the chest and partially strangled her four-year-old granddaughter. A few weeks later, after a felony complaint was filed and an arrest warrant was issued, the defendant was arrested in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was being held on unrelated charges, but he was not then returned to New York.

On March 26, 1996, prior to the grand jury presentation, the Supreme Court adjudged Donaldson, who was unable to appear in the grand jury, a “[s]pecial witness” (CPL 190.32 [1] [b] [i]). On March 28, 1996, pursuant to that order, a videotaped examination of Donaldson was conducted (see CPL 190.32 [4]). In violation, however, of mandated procedure (see CPL 60.20 [2]; 190.30 [1]; 190.32 [5] [e]), Donaldson was not sworn before she testified. A few days later, when the videotaped examination was presented to the grand jury, the People discerned the defect. On April 11, 1996, they obtained an order authorizing another videotaped examination. On April 12, 1996, 15 days after Donaldson’s first videotaped examination, a second videotaped examination was conducted.

[244] As revealed in the second videotaped examination, the prosecutor asked Donaldson if she remembered giving a statement “the last time I was here.” Donaldson answered, “Yes.” Donaldson was then sworn, and the prosecutor asked, “[t]he statement you previously gave is the truth?” Donaldson answered, “Yes.” The prosecutor asked, “[d]o you swear to that?” and Donaldson answered, “I swear to that.” The prosecutor thanked Donaldson and the examination ended without any further inquiry or reference to the content of the first examination.

The second examination was presented to the grand jury on April 19, 1996. Other than Donaldson’s videotaped examinations, no evidence inculpating the defendant was received in the grand jury. The grand jury returned an indictment charging the defendant with numerous crimes relating to the attacks on Donaldson and her granddaughter, including, among others, attempted murder in the second degree (two counts), assault in the first degree, and burglary in the first degree.

A year later, in April 1997, the defendant was returned to New York and was arraigned on the indictment. He filed omnibus motions, and, in their June 12, 1997 response, the People asserted that the defendant had been arrested in this case on February 25, 1996, in Baltimore based on information provided by Donaldson, among others. Pursuant to the defendant’s request, the Supreme Court examined the grand jury minutes. In an order dated July 24, 1997, the Supreme Court found that the “competent evidence” in the grand jury was legally sufficient and that, with one exception, the grand jury had been correctly instructed on the law.1 The Supreme Court also denied the defendant’s request that he be permitted to examine the grand jury minutes.

A suppression hearing was scheduled for September 18, 1997, and the trial was scheduled to commence on September 19, 1997. On September 18, 1997, the defendant filed and served a motion, returnable the same day, to dismiss the indictment pursuant to CPL 30.30. The defendant noted in his motion that he had been arrested in Baltimore, Maryland, based on a warrant issued in Brooklyn on or about February 25, 1996. He was not returned to New York, however, until February 1997. Moreover, he alleged, the People did not make any “reasonable or dili[245] gent” efforts to bring him to trial in New York. The defendant asserted that more than 400 days of delay were chargeable to the People, and that his right to a speedy trial under the Constitution and CPL 30.30 had been violated. In court that day, the prosecutor protested the short notice and asserted that the defendant had been given the paperwork on which he based the motion two weeks earlier. Defense counsel did not contradict the prosecutor’s assertion as to when he had received that paperwork. During the ensuing oral argument as to the merits of the motion, the prosecutor asserted several times that the short notice allowed her inadequate time to prepare fully, but asserted that the People had done all that was required of them to establish their diligence in having the defendant returned from Maryland. The Supreme Court denied the motion, on the merits, and the case proceeded to hearing and trial.

Following the close of the People’s case, the defendant moved, among other things, to dismiss the indictment based on the People’s failure to administer the testimonial oath to Donaldson before her videotaped examination in March 1996. Defense counsel claimed that he could not have made the motion as part of his timely pretrial omnibus motion because he did not have the grand jury minutes at that time. The Supreme Court denied the motion to dismiss.

The jury convicted the defendant of attempted murder in the second degree (two counts), burglary in the first degree, and endangering the welfare of a child, and he was sentenced on October 30, 1997, to lengthy prison terms. On appeal, the defendant raises numerous contentions, but we need address only two of them.

II

First, the defendant contends that the Supreme Court erred by denying his motion to dismiss the indictment pursuant to CPL 30.30. The People contend as a threshold matter that the defendant waived his speedy trial claim by not giving them “reasonable notice” of the motion, as required by statute (see CPL 210.20 [1], [2]; 210.45 [1]). The defendant counters that the People waived any objection to the lack of reasonable notice at the oral argument on the motion by addressing the merits of the motion.

At the outset of the argument on the defendant’s speedy trial motion, the prosecutor pointed out that the defendant had been given the paperwork on which he based his speedy trial [246] motion two weeks earlier. Defense counsel himself admitted that he had not reviewed the papers until the previous night. Later in the discussion, the prosecutor noted that she did not have copies of documents in evidentiary form to present to the court because she did not know that the defendant intended to make a CPL 30.30 motion. Under these circumstances, we find that the People did not waive their right to “reasonable notice” of the motion (People v Cook, 193 AD2d 366, 369 [1993]).

Whether notice of a motion to dismiss an indictment under CPL 30.30 is “reasonable” depends, in part, on the circumstances. Sometimes those circumstances prevent the defendant from making the motion until the very last minute before trial; short notice is not necessarily unreasonable notice.

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People v. Wisdom, 98 A.D.3d 241, 948 N.Y.S.2d 351 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2012).

98 A.D.3d 241 (People v. Wisdom) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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