§ 245.30 — Court orders for preservation, access or discovery

New York § 245.30

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law CPL: Criminal Procedure
• Title J: Prosecution of Indictments In Superior Courts--plea to Sentence
• Part 2: The Principal Proceedings
• Art. 245: Discovery

Text

§ 245.30 Court orders for preservation, access or discovery.\n 1. Order to preserve evidence. At any time, a party may move for a\ncourt order to any individual, agency or other entity in possession,\ncustody or control of items which are required to be disclosed under\nsubdivision one of section 245.20 of this article, requiring that such\nitems be preserved for a specified period of time. The court shall hear\nand rule upon such motions expeditiously. The court may modify or vacate\nsuch an order upon a showing that preservation of particular evidence\nwill create significant hardship to such individual, agency or entity,\non condition that the probative value of that evidence is preserved by a\nspecified alternative means.\n 2. Order to grant access to premises. Without prejudice to its ability\nto issue a subpoena pursuant to this chapter and after an accusatory\ninstrument has been filed, the defendant may move, upon notice to the\nprosecution and any impacted individual, agency, or entity, for a court\norder to access a crime scene or other premises relevant to the subject\nmatter of the case, requiring that counsel for the defendant be granted\nreasonable access to inspect, photograph, or measure such crime scene or\npremises, and that the condition of the crime scene or premises remain\nunchanged in the interim. The court shall consider defendant's expressed\nneed for access to the premises including the risk that defendant will\nbe deprived of evidence or information relevant to the case, the\nposition of any individual or entity with possessory or ownership rights\nto the premises, the nature of the privacy interest and any perceived or\nactual hardship of the individual or entity with possessory or ownership\nrights, and the position of the prosecution with respect to any\napplication for access to the premises. The court may deny access to the\npremises when the probative value of access to such location has been or\nwill be preserved by specified alternative means. If the court grants\naccess to the premises, the individual or entity with ownership or\npossessory rights to the premises may request law enforcement presence\nat the premises while defense counsel or a representative thereof is\npresent.\n 3. Discretionary discovery by order of the court. The court in its\ndiscretion may, upon a showing by the defendant that the request is\nreasonable and that the defendant is unable without undue hardship to\nobtain the substantial equivalent by other means, order the prosecution,\nor any individual, agency or other entity subject to the jurisdiction of\nthe court, to make available for disclosure to the defendant any\nmaterial or information which relates to the subject matter of the case\nand is reasonably likely to be material. A motion under this subdivision\nmust be on notice to any person or entity affected by the order. The\ncourt may, on its own, upon request of any person or entity affected by\nthe order, modify or vacate the order if compliance would be\nunreasonable or will create significant hardship. For good cause shown,\nthe court may permit a party seeking or opposing a discretionary order\nof discovery under this subdivision, or another affected person or\nentity, to submit papers or testify on the record ex parte or in camera.\nFor good cause shown, any such papers and a transcript of such testimony\nmay be sealed and shall constitute a part of the record on appeal.\n