People ex rel. Van Steenburg v. Wasser, 503888

• Decision Date: 21 January 2010
• Docket Number: 503888
• Citation: 69 A.D.3d 1135,2010 NY Slip Op 414,893 N.Y.S.2d 379
• Parties: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ex rel. EDWARD VAN STEENBURG, Appellant, v. JOSEPH WASSER, as Sullivan County Sheriff, Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

69 A.D.3d 1135

893 N.Y.S.2d 379

2010 NY Slip Op 414

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ex rel. EDWARD VAN STEENBURG, Appellant, v. JOSEPH WASSER, as Sullivan County Sheriff, Respondent.

503888

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department.

Decided January 21, 2010.

Appeals (1) from a judgment of the County Court of Sullivan County (Kane, J.), entered November 18, 1992, which dismissed petitioner's application, in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 70, after a hearing, (2) from an order of said court (LaBuda, J.), entered December 5, 2007, which denied petitioner's motion to vacate the judgment, and (3) from an order of said court, entered July 7, 2008, which denied petitioner's motion to renew.

Peters, J.

In 1992, after his arrest at the State Police barracks in the Village of Liberty, Sullivan County in connection with the kidnapping and rape of his ex-wife, petitioner escaped through a barracks window. Petitioner was apprehended and, following a preliminary hearing on the escape charge, the Village of Liberty Justice Court found sufficient evidence to hold him for action of the grand jury and set bail. In November 1992, petitioner commenced a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 70 for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that he was unlawfully detained on the escape charge because the evidence adduced at the preliminary hearing was insufficient to establish that the crime of escape was committed, that the Justice Court did not have geographic jurisdiction over his offenses and that his bail was excessive. Finding no merit to petitioner's assertions, County Court (Kane, J.) dismissed the petition. Petitioner was then charged in a multicount indictment with numerous crimes including kidnapping in the second degree, rape in the first degree and escape in the first degree. He was convicted as charged and the judgment of conviction was affirmed on appeal (People v Van Steenburg, 221 AD2d 799 [1995], lv denied 87 NY2d 978 [1996]).

In 2007, following several unsuccessful postconviction proceedings, petitioner moved to vacate the judgment dismissing his 1992 habeas corpus petition on the grounds of fraud and lack of jurisdiction (see CPLR 5015 [a] [3], [4]). County Court (LaBuda, J.) denied the motion, as well as petitioner's subsequent motion to renew/vacate that order. Petitioner now appeals, and we affirm.

"Habeas corpus relief is available only if an inmate can demonstrate that he or she is entitled to immediate release from prison" (People ex rel. Porter v Napoli, 56 AD3d 830, 831 [2008] [citations omitted]; see People ex rel. Kaplan v Commissioner of Correction of City of N.Y., 60 NY2d 648, 649 [1983]). Here, following the dismissal of his habeas corpus petition, petitioner was indicted by a grand jury and convicted (People v Van Steenburg, supra). As the grand jury had authority to indict, regardless of any claimed defects in the earlier proceedings, and the issuance of the indictment superceded all prior proceedings in the local criminal court, any purported defects in those proceedings are rendered academic (see People v Hart, 25 AD3d 815, 816 [2006], lv denied 6 NY3d 834 [2006]; People v Winch, 50 AD2d 948 [1975]; People v Wright, 28 AD2d 602, 602 [1967]). Thus, even were petitioner to be successful in the arguments raised in his petition, he would not be entitled to immediate release from prison (see People ex rel. Green v Smith, 34 AD3d 910, 911 [2006], lv denied 8 NY3d 806 [2007]; People ex rel. Brown v Keane, 284 AD2d 813 [2001]). To the extent that petitioner now argues that there were additional...