Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

In a dispute involving a fatal stabbing outside a Manhattan bar in 2000, defendant Gonzalo Aguilar appealed his conviction of murder in the second degree, attempted murder in the second degree, and assault in the first degree. Aguilar asserted that the trial court erred by not including a reinstruction on the justification defense in its response to a jury note, and that the court's interested witness charge violated his constitutional right to due process.The Court of Appeals of the State of New York disagreed with Aguilar's claims. The court held that the trial court's response to the jury's note was meaningful and appropriate. It reasoned that the jury's note had specifically requested the definitions of the charges, not a reinstruction on the justification defense. Furthermore, the court noted that the trial court was in the best position to evaluate the jury's request and had significant discretion in determining the scope and nature of its response. The court also pointed out that the jury did not seek further instruction or clarification after the recharge, indicating that the trial court's response was satisfactory.In addition, the court found that Aguilar's argument concerning the interested witness charge was unpreserved as it had not been raised in the trial court and no exception to the preservation rule applied in this case. Thus, the court affirmed the decision of the Appellate Division. View "People v Aguilar" on Justia Law

In New York, a man named Joshua Messano was indicted for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon after police officers discovered a loaded handgun in his car. Messano moved to suppress this evidence, arguing that it was found as a result of an unlawful detention and search. The police had initially detained Messano on suspicion of a drug transaction based on their observations of him engaging in a conversation with another man in an empty parking lot. They did not, however, observe any actual exchange of drugs. After detaining Messano, the police saw what they believed to be drug-related contraband in plain view on the driver's seat of his car, which led them to search the car and find the gun.The Court of Appeals of New York reversed the lower court's decision, holding that the police did not have reasonable suspicion to detain Messano based on their observations. The court also held that the drug-related contraband was not in plain view, as the officer only saw it after unlawfully detaining Messano. Therefore, the court concluded that the seizure of the gun was unconstitutional and the evidence should be suppressed. The indictment against Messano was dismissed. View "People v Messano" on Justia Law

In 2017, two police officers observed Devon T. Butler, the appellant, engage in what they believed was a hand-to-hand drug transaction. After observing Butler fail to stop at a stop sign, the officers initiated a traffic stop. When Butler stepped out of his vehicle, the officers noticed a bulge in his pants, which Butler claimed was $1,000 in cash. When Butler refused the officers' request to search his vehicle, an officer used a Belgian Malinois, a narcotics-detection dog, to sniff-test the vehicle for drugs. The canine sniffed Butler's body, indicated the presence of narcotics, and the officers arrested Butler after a pursuit. The officers found a bag containing 76 glassine envelopes of heroin, which Butler admitted belonged to him. Butler moved to suppress evidence of the drugs, arguing that the officers' use of the canine to search his vehicle and person was unlawful. Following a hearing, the County Court denied the motion.On December 19, 2023, the New York Court of Appeals held that the use of a narcotics-detection dog to sniff a defendant's body for evidence of a crime is considered a search and thus falls under the protections of the Fourth Amendment. The court reversed the lower court's decision and remitted the case back to the County Court for further proceedings. The court ruled that the Appellate Division erred in affirming the judgement based on a ground not decided adversely to the defendant by the suppression court. The court also expressed uncertainty on whether the County Court's conclusion that the defendant "abandoned" the narcotics was based on its holding that the canine sniff was not a search and was "perfectly acceptable." As a result, the case was remitted back to the County Court for further proceedings and consideration of whether the abandonment of narcotics was lawful or unlawful. View "People v Butler" on Justia Law

In 2021, Michael Bay was arrested for alleged harassment of his mother. After the prosecution filed a certificate of compliance (COC) indicating readiness for trial, the defense discovered that the prosecution had not provided all required discovery materials. The defense argued that the prosecution's readiness statement was illusory due to the belated disclosure. On appeal, the Court of Appeals of New York held that since the prosecution failed to show they had exercised due diligence and made reasonable efforts to identify mandatory discovery before filing the COC, the COC was not proper when filed, and the prosecution's declaration of trial readiness was therefore illusory. Consequently, the court reversed the County Court order, granted the defendant's motion for dismissal based on speedy trial rules, and dismissed the accusatory instrument. View "People v Bay" on Justia Law

In a criminal matter, the Court of Appeals of New York held that when the prosecution calls a witness who may make a first-time, in-court identification of the defendant, they must ensure that the defendant is aware of that possibility as early as practicable. This is to provide the defendant with a meaningful opportunity to request alternative identification procedures. If the defendant explicitly requests such procedures, a trial court may exercise its discretion to fashion any measures necessary to reduce the risk of misidentification. The ultimate determination of whether to admit a first-time, in-court identification, like any evidence, rests within the evidentiary gatekeeping discretion of the trial court. The court must balance the probative value of the identification against the dangers of misidentification and other prejudice to the defendant.In this case, the defendant shot the victim in the leg during a house party. A neighbor, the witness at issue in this case, called 911 to report the shooting and provided a description of the shooter. No pretrial identification procedure was conducted with this witness. At trial, the victim and the neighbor identified the defendant as the shooter. The defendant objected to the neighbor's identification, arguing that the identification procedure was suggestive because there was only one person sitting in the courtroom who could possibly be the suspect. The court denied the defendant's request to preclude the neighbor's identification. The jury convicted the defendant of all charges and the Appellate Division affirmed the judgment. The Court of Appeals affirmed the decision, stating that the defendant was aware from pre-trial discovery that the witness might make a first-time, in-court identification and only sought preclusion of the identification. The court found that the witness's testimony and pretrial statements established the reliability of her first-time, in-court identification, and the lack of formal notice did not significantly prejudice the defendant. Therefore, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the defendant's request to preclude it. View "People v Perdue" on Justia Law

The Court of Appeals held that requiring Defendant, who was not a sex offender, to register as a sex offender and comply with the Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) in this case violated his due process rights and did nothing to further SORA's legislative purpose to protect the public from actual sex offenders.Defendant pleaded guilty to robbery in the first degree and unlawful imprisonment in the first degree for stealing money at gunpoint from his aunt in the presence of his ten-year-old cousin. Defendant's crime was a SORA-eligible crime and brought Defendant within the statutory definition of "sex offender," thus subjecting him to mandatory sex offender registration. The SORA court found that Defendant was not a sex offender and posed no sexual threat but determined that it was constrained by People v. Knox, 12 NY3d 60 (NY 2009), to impose the SORA requirement. The appellate division affirmed. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that applying SORA to Defendant violated his due process rights by impinging on his liberty interest to be free of his improper designation and registration as a sex offender. View "People v. Brown" on Justia Law

The Court of Appeals reversed the judgment of the appellate division affirming Defendant's conviction on two counts of murder in the second degree and one count of robbery in the second degree, holding that the warrantless entry into Defendant's home was not based on consent, and therefore, the suppression court erred in denying Defendant's motion to suppress.Defendant was indicted on several charges including kidnapping, robbery, and felony murder. Defendant filed a motion to suppress, arguing that the warrantless, nonconsensual entry into his home was unlawful. The suppression court denied the motion. The appellate division affirmed. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the warrantless entry into the apartment in which Defendant was found by police officers and arrested violated Defendant's rights under the New York and United States Constitutions. View "People v. Cuencas" on Justia Law

The Court of Appeals reversed the order of the appellate division affirming Defendant's conviction, holding Supreme Court should have suppressed a gun as the product of an impermissible stop because the police officers lacked reasonable suspicion of criminal activity or probable cause that Defendant had violated the rules of the road while riding his bicycle.Defendant was riding his bicycle down a road when police officers drove alongside him and asked him to stop. Defendant stopped and, in response to an officer's question, admitted that he was carrying a gun. Defendant pleaded guilty to a weapons charge. The appellate division affirmed. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding (1) police interference with a bicyclist is a seizure requiring reasonable suspicion of a criminal offense or probable cause of a Vehicle and Traffic Law violation; and (2) the officers in this case violated the New York and United States Constitutions when they stopped Defendant, and therefore, the indictment against Defendant must be dismissed. View "People v. Rodriguez" on Justia Law

The Court of Appeals affirmed Defendant's conviction for two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, holding that none of Defendant's contentions on appeal provided grounds for reversal.Specifically, the Court of Appeals held that the trial court (1) did not abuse its discretion such that the jurors' "ability to follow and apply the law" by limiting Defendant's opportunity to explore the jury's potential biases related to the use of guns for self-defense; (2) did not improperly curtail the questioning of the fifth panel of potential jurors; and (3) did not err by not vacating Defendant's sentence under N.Y. C.P.L. 440.20. View "People v. Garcia" on Justia Law

The Court of Appeals affirmed the order of the appellate division affirming Defendant's conviction for two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, holding that Defendant's first challenge was unreviewable and that there was no error in the trial judge's evidentiary rulings.On appeal, Defendant argued, among other things, that that the inventory search conducted by the police that recovered the handguns giving rise to his conviction was invalid and that Supreme Court improperly allowed prejudicial testimony at his trial. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) neither of Defendant's first two arguments provided grounds for reversal; and (2) Defendant's argument that N.Y. Penal Law 265.03(3) is facially unconstitutional under N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen, 142 S Ct 2111 (2022), was unpreserved for appeal. View "People v. David" on Justia Law