court of appeals update: cases scheduled for argument

I. Cases Scheduled for Argument

People v. Nathaniel Syville

AD1 order dated May 26, 2009, denying coram nobis petition. Jones, J., granted leave December 1, 2009. To be argued September 14, 2010.

ISSUE PRESENTED: Whether a defendant may seek a remedy by writ of error coram nobis – alleging ineffective assistance of counsel with respect to an appeal – when his trial attorney’s failure to file a timely notice of appeal fell below constitutional standards of effective assistance of counsel, and trial counsel’s ineffectiveness also prevented the defendant from taking advantage of the one-year grace period provided in C.P.L. §460.30. (Assigned counsel for defendant-petitioner: Abby Everett & Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, 74 Trinity Place, 11th Floor, NYC 10006.) (Judge Smith also granted leave on this issue, on November 30, 2009, in People v. Tony Council [Attorney: Joel B. Rudin].)

Matter of Jimmy D.

AD2 order dated June 2, 2009, modifying juvenile delinquency adjudication. Decision below: 63 AD3d 737, 880 NYS2d 334. Court of Appeals granted leave November 19, 2009. To be argued September 15, 2010.

ISSUE PRESENTED: Whether 13-year-old’s confession was involuntary where, late at night, police asked the juvenile’s mother to leave the room, then promised him help in getting counseling if he told the truth. (Assigned counsel: Steven Banks, Legal Aid Society Juvenile Rights Division, 199 Water Street, NYC 10038.)

Matter of Daniel H.

AD1 order dated November 17, 2009, affirming juvenile delinquency adjudication. Decision below: 67 AD3d 527; 888 NYS2d 496. Court of Appeals granted leave. To be argued September 15, 2010.
ISSUE PRESENTED: Whether a stationhouse written confession taken from a 15-year-old suspect was sufficiently attenuated from an earlier oral schoolhouse confession improperly taken in violation of Miranda. (Assigned counsel: Tamara A. Steckler, Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Rights Division, 199 Water Street, NYC 10038.)

People v. Dana C. Bradford

AD4 order dated April 24, 2009, modifying judgment of conviction. Decision below: 61 AD3d 1419, 877 NYS2d 586. Lippman, Ch.J., granted leave September 30, 2009. To be argued September 15, 2010.

ISSUES PRESENTED: (1) Whether, where the arrest was without probable cause, the defendant’s post-arrest Mirandized statements were sufficiently attenuated so as to be admissible. (2) Whether the court’s erroneous failure to strike the complainant’s testimony about uncharged rapes was harmless. (Assigned counsel: Timothy P. Donaher, Monroe County Public Defender, 10 N. Fitzhugh St., Rochester, NY 14614.)

People v. Donald McKinnon

AD1 order dated June 2, 2009, affirming judgment of conviction. Decision below: 63 AD3d 426, 883 NYS2d 2. Lippman, Ch. J., granted leave August 12, 2009. To be argued September 16, 2010.

ISSUE PRESENTED: The sufficiency of the evidence of “permanent disfigurement” under P.L. §120.10(2) (first-degree assault) where the victim displayed her arm to the jury, but the record gives no indication of what the jury saw. (Assigned counsel: Stanley E. Neustadter, Cardozo Law School, Criminal Appeals Clinic, 55 Fifth Ave., NYC 10003.)