People v. Chavis

Decision Date07 April 1997
Citation238 A.D.2d 349,656 N.Y.S.2d 64
PartiesThe PEOPLE, etc., Appellant, v. Niheem CHAVIS, Silas Clark, and Equan Mongo, Respondents.
CourtNew York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

William L. Murphy, District Attorney, Staten Island (Karen F. McGee and Jonathan J. Silbermann, of counsel), for appellant.

Daniel L. Greenberg, New York City (Lori Shellenberger, of counsel), for respondent Niheem Chavis.

Joseph LaMattina, Staten Island, for respondent Silas Clark.

Mark Fonte, Staten Island, for respondent Equan Mongo.

Before COPERTINO, J.P., and SANTUCCI, JOY and GOLDSTEIN, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

Appeal by the People from (1) an order of the Supreme Court, Richmond County (Kuffner, J.), dated November 6, 1995, which granted the respondents' respective motions to dismiss Richmond County Indictment No. 114/94 insofar as asserted against them, and (2) as limited by their brief, from so much of an order of the same court, dated December 7, 1995, as, upon reargument, adhered to the original determination.

ORDERED that the appeal from the order dated November 6, 1995, is dismissed, as that order was superseded by the order dated December 7, 1995, made upon reargument; and it is further,

ORDERED that the order dated December 7, 1995, is reversed insofar as appealed from, upon reargument, the respondents' respective motions to dismiss Richmond County Indictment No. 114/94 insofar as asserted against them are denied, the order dated November 6, 1995, is vacated, the indictment insofar as asserted against the respondents is reinstated, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Richmond County, for further proceedings.

The People were ready and a Huntley hearing was commenced on January 17, 1995. However, the hearing court inexplicably terminated the hearing before it concluded. Thereafter, due to a number of adjournments, the hearing was still pending in August 1995 when the respondents moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that their statutory right to a speedy trial had been violated. The Supreme Court determined that the entire time frame from January 17 to August 8, 1995, the date the People again announced their readiness to proceed, was chargeable to the People. We disagree.

Much of the delay was attributable to adjournments which the respondents either consented to or participated in setting the adjourned date (see, People v. Meierdiercks, 68 N.Y.2d 613, 505 N.Y.S.2d 51, 496 N.E.2d 210; People v. Matthews, 227 A.D.2d 313, 642...

To continue reading

Request your trial
7 cases
  • People v. Castello
    • United States
    • New York Criminal Court
    • January 11, 2022
    ...People v. Harden, 6 A.D.3d 181 (1st Dept. 2004) (exclude time witness absent due to his mother's hospitalization); People v. Chavis, 238 A.D.2d 349, 350 (2d Dept. 1997), rev'd on other grounds by 91 N.Y.2d 500 (1998) (exclude time witness was "needed at home as the sole care-giver of his ca......
  • People v. Castello
    • United States
    • New York Criminal Court
    • January 11, 2022
    ...181, 778 N.Y.S.2d 7 (1st Dept. 2004) (exclude time witness absent due to his mother's hospitalization); People v. Chavis , 238 A.D.2d 349, 350, 656 N.Y.S.2d 64 (2d Dept. 1997), rev'd on other grounds by 91 N.Y.2d 500, 673 N.Y.S.2d 29, 695 N.E.2d 1110 (1998) (exclude time witness was "needed......
  • People v. Castello
    • United States
    • New York Criminal Court
    • January 11, 2022
    ...People v. Harden, 6 A.D.3d 181 (1st Dept. 2004) (exclude time witness absent due to his mother's hospitalization); People v. Chavis, 238 A.D.2d 349, 350 (2d Dept. 1997), rev'd on other grounds by 91 N.Y.2d 500 (1998) (exclude time witness was "needed at home as the sole care-giver of his ca......
  • People v. Chavis
    • United States
    • New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
    • May 5, 1998
    ...to or participated in setting the adjourned date" and that part of the delay was due to the unavailability of a detective (238 A.D.2d 349, 350, 656 N.Y.S.2d 64). A Judge of this Court granted leave to appeal, and we now reverse and reinstate the order of Supreme Court dismissing the The bas......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT