Articles Posted in Criminal Law and Justice

Update from the Lexis Alert Service,

March 2, 2009.

1. People v. Becoate, 5345, 4009/06, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 1401; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1347, February 26, 2009, Decided, February 26, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Robert H. Straus, …

2. People v. Galarza, 5384, 2120/07, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 1427; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1362, February 26, 2009, Decided, February 26, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Gregory Carro, J.), …

3. People v. Garcia, 5352, 3907/03, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 1407; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1397, February 26, 2009, Decided, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Michael Obus, J.), …

4. People v. Albright, 4699, 4061/06, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 1397; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1360, February 26, 2009, Decided, February 26, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Robert M. Stolz, …

5. People v. Butler, 5367, 5199/05, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 1416; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1358, February 26, 2009, Decided, February 26, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Eduardo Padro, J.), …

6. People v. Martinez, 5374, 2875/05, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 1420; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1384, February 26, 2009, Decided, February 26, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Ronald A. Zweibel, …

7. People v. Vallevaleix, 4921, 511/03, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2008 NY Slip Op 10203; 57 A.D.3d 412; 869 N.Y.S.2d 846; 2008 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9955, December 30, 2008, Decided, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Marcy L. Kahn, …
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February 21 – February 27, 2009
U.S. Supreme Court, February 24, 2009 US v. Hayes, No. 07-608 Defendant’s conviction for possessing a firearm under 18 U.S.C. section 921 is affirmed, where a domestic relationship between the offender and victim need not be an element of the defendant’s “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” to trigger Section 921’s possession ban. .

U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, February 24, 2009 US v. Rodriguez-Lozada , No. 06-1988 Defendant’s convictions and sentences are vacated in part and otherwise affirmed where: 1) district court properly denied motion to suppress evidence for lack of standing as he had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the area searched; 2) motion for severance was properly denied as untimely; and 3) although evidence was sufficient to uphold most counts of defendant’s conviction, there was insufficient evidence to uphold convictions for possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and aiding and abetting possession. Co-defendant Rivera’s sentence is affirmed where: 1) district court’s drug quantity calculation for sentencing purposes was well-supported by evidence and not clearly erroneous; 2) court correctly imposed statutory sentencing enhancement for co-defendant Rivera’s leadership role; and 3) the sentence was reasonable in light of his particular circumstances. .

U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, February 26, 2009 US v. Glover , No. 07-1983
Conviction and sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm is affirmed where: 1) the prosecutor’s closing statements were not improper; 2) the court did not err in classifying defendant’s prior conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon as a crime of violence under the sentencing guidelines; and 3) the sentence imposed was reasonable.
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“The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance, in partnership with the National Institute of Justice, is pleased to announce it is seeking applications for funding under the Adult Drug Court Research to Practice Initiative. This program furthers the Department’s efforts to assist communities to develop effective drug court strategies for nonviolent substance-abusing offenders.”:

Here is a link to the Announcement:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/09DrugCourtResearchSol.pdf

To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com. All summaries are produced by Findlaw.

February 16 – February 20, 2009
U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, February 19, 2009 Yeboah-Sefah v. Ficco, No. 07-2585
Denial of habeus corpus relief by district court is affirmed where the state court reasonably concluded: 1) plaintiff’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel was not violated because he made a knowing and intelligent waiver of counsel’s conflict of interest; 2) plaintiff cannot satisfy standards set forth in Strickland and adequately prove constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel; and 3) plaintiff right to due process was not violated as he was determined to be competent a week before the trial and no evidence was brought to light indicating the competency determination needed to be revisited.

U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, February 17, 2009 Sledge v. Kooi, No. 07-1547 In a suit brought pro se by plaintiff alleging defendant violated his Eighth Amendment rights while incarcerated, grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment is affirmed. When facing pro se litigants who are repeat filers, absent a strong showing that the pro se litigant has acquired adequate experience more generally, a district court should limit the withdrawal of pro se litigant’s special status to specific contexts in which the litigant’s experiences indicates that he may fairly be deemed knowledgeable and experienced.
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Update from the Lexis Alert Service,

February 23, 2009

1. People v. Jackson, 5272, 2369/06, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 1289; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1218, February 19, 2009, Decided, February 19, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.

QUESTION:

“…We have a defendant charged with child molestation. The child is the defendant’s niece. The defendant is in his 20s, is deaf and mute and family speaks Spanish. The family has created a home sign language to communicate with the defendant. The court has excluded the brother (father of the child molested) as someone to communicate between the court and the defendant due to the obvious conflict. A sister was questioned in court as to her ability to communicate and it was determined that the home sign language was extremely basic information and she did not have the ability to communicate the court process to the defendant nor did she understand the court process. Today we had an certified American Sign Language interpreter who also is a Spanish interpreter. He was able to communicate very basic words i.e. mother, father, Mexico, hospital but did not believe he could communicate well enough with the defendant to explain the court process or the allegations to him.

Have any of you encountered this situation, and if so, how did you handle it?”

From: Resource Desk, Quinlan’s Law Enforcement Enews Alert, February 17, 2008.

Last year was one of the safest years for U.S. law enforcement in decades. The number of officers killed in the line of duty fell sharply in 2008 when compared with 2007, and officers killed by gunfire reached a 50-year low.

Based on analysis of preliminary data, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) and Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) found that 140 officers died in the line of duty last year. That is 23 percent lower than the 2007 figure of 181, and represents one of the lowest years for officer fatalities since the mid-1960s.

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