Articles Posted in Current Events in Criminal Law New York

Yesterday the Appellate Division, First Department decided In re: Tatiana N., N.Y.L.J. (1st Dep’t April 8, 2010). The facts of the case were somewhat interesting: “This juvenile delinquency proceeding arose from events that occurred at a movie theater on East 161st Street in the Bronx, in which a family was subjected to a moviegoer’s worst…

Lil Wayne will be sentenced today in Manhattan Supreme Court after pleading guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree in October 2009. According to the New York Post, he is set to receive a one year sentence. It is interesting to note that this is the same charge to which…

Criminal Procedure Law section 190.75[3] prevents a prosecutor from resubmitting a charge dismissed by grand jury absent leave of court. In People v. Davis, N.Y.L.J., Jan. 6, 2010, at p.34, the prosecution presented evidence to a grand jury (“GJ1”) concerning an incident in which the defendant and a co-defendant allegedly slashed the complainant’s face with…

On November 18, 2009, the New York State Legislature announced the passage of Leandra’s Law. Hailed as the toughest DWI law in the nation, the legislation is designed to enhance penalties for those found guilty of drunken driving with a child passenger in the vehicle and require the installation of ignition interlock devices for all…

In a split decision authored by Judge Smith, a divided New York Court of Appeals decided a new case in the Molineux line on October 22, 2009. This was People v. Nasin Arafet, N.Y.L.J., Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, p.45 (New York Court of Appeals 2009). In Arafet, the defendant was charged with stealing the payload…

New York 1 has recently reported that there will be yet another police “crackdown” on people who drive and talk on their cell phones at the same time. Crackdowns like this are becoming increasingly more common in New York, and many people are wondering what will happen to them if they are caught by the…

At the time of this posting, the jury in the already-infamous “Brooke Astor Trial” has been deliberating for over eight days but has yet to reach a unanimous verdict. Thus, at this point, it seems very likely that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is facing a potential nightmare scenario: a mistrial. Indeed, from the prosecutor’s…

The Manhattan D.A. announced today via Twitter and its website that it had just indicted 29 people and 4 corporations, including some alleged members of the Lucchese Crime Family, for a number of charges including enterprise corruption, extortion, bribe receiving, narcotics and firearms trafficking, and illegal gambling. http://manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2009-10-1.shtmlThis enormous indictment, which was supposedly 2 years…