Court Filings

The Appellate Division, Third Department reversed County Court's denial of defendant Cendno Rahaman's CPL 440.10 motion and granted relief in the interest of justice. Rahaman argued his trial lawyer was ineffective for failing to object to empaneling an anonymous jury. The court found the sworn allegations and counsel's affidavit showed a legal basis that could not be summarily rejected as successive, and that empaneling an anonymous jury without a factual predicate can deny a fair trial. The matter is remitted to County Court for a new trial.

The Appellate Division reversed a County Court order that denied defendant Shannon Dickinson's CPL 440.10 motion to vacate his conviction, and remitted the matter to a different County Court judge for further proceedings. The court concluded that the judge who decided the 440 motion had a law clerk who previously worked as an assistant prosecutor on the underlying case and that the clerk's potential prior involvement — combined with the failure to disclose or insulate the clerk — created an appearance of impropriety. Because the record does not show the clerk's role on the motion, the court found reversal and reassignment appropriate in the interest of justice.

The Appellate Division affirmed most of defendant Tahnisha Joyner-Pounds's convictions for three counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated and one count of driving while intoxicated, rejecting challenges to the sufficiency and weight of the evidence that she was intoxicated and that the three children in the car were 15 or younger. The court found some preservation issues but concluded the record allowed reasonable inferences as to the children's ages and that officer observations supported the intoxication verdict. However, the court reserved decision and remitted the case to Supreme Court to reconsider a CPL 30.30 speedy-trial dismissal motion tied to alleged discovery violations, because the trial court denied the motion without allowing the People to respond.

The Appellate Division, Fourth Department, granted the defendant's motion to dismiss his appeal in People v Garrett and remitted the matter to Supreme Court, Erie County, with instructions to vacate the judgment of conviction and dismiss the indictment. The court cited People v Matteson as governing authority for the appropriate remedy. The decision is a brief memorandum and order resolving only the procedural motion to dismiss the appeal and directing the trial court to take further action consistent with precedent.