People v. Quinlan

• Decision Date: 29 January 2021
• Docket Number: 2019BX030013
• Citation: 71 Misc.3d 266,142 N.Y.S.3d 305
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Plaintiff, v. C QUINLAN, Defendant.
• Court: New York Criminal Court

71 Misc.3d 266

142 N.Y.S.3d 305

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Plaintiff,

v.C QUINLAN, Defendant.

2019BX030013

Criminal Court, City of New York, Bronx County.

Decided on January 29, 2021

The Bronx Defenders (Eli Northrup, Esq.) for Defendant

Bronx County District Attorney's Office (Sarah Silverhardt, Esq.) for the People

Erik L. Gray, J.

INTRODUCTION

Defendant moves, by motion filed on March 16, 2020, for an order, among other things, dismissing the information on speedy-trial ground pursuant to CPL 30.30 [1] [b]. Defendant was arrested on November 18, 2019, and subsequently charged in a misdemeanor complaint with Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated, an unclassified misdemeanor under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192 [2-a] [a], Driving While Intoxicated (Per Se), an unclassified misdemeanor under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192 [2], Driving While Intoxicated (Common Law), an unclassified misdemeanor under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192 [3], and Driving While Ability Impaired, a traffic infraction under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192 [1]. Upon reviewing the foregoing papers, the court file, and the court minutes from February 19, 2020, and after due deliberation, that part of Defendant's motion to dismiss the information on speedy-trial ground is granted and the remainder of Defendant's motion is denied as moot.

LEGAL STANDARDS

Where, as here, the top count charged in the information, Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated, is an unclassified misdemeanor punishable by a sentence of imprisonment of more than three months, (see Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1193 [1] [b] ), the People are required to be ready for trial within 90 days of the commencement of the criminal action, less any excludable time (see CPL 30.30 [1] [b] ; [4]). In addition, "on January 1, 2020, an amended CPL 30.30 statute went into effect ... and explicitly brought traffic infractions within its ambit" ( People v. Galindo , 70 Misc.3d 16, 127 N.Y.S.3d 223, 2020 N.Y. Slip Op. 20147, *2 [App. Term, 2d Dept., 11th & 13th Jud. Dists. 2020] ; see also id. 30.30 [1] [e]). Thus, "in a criminal case, such as this, where a defendant is charged with both a misdemeanor for which more than three months’ incarceration is possible and a traffic infraction, the People are provided with a 90-day ‘clock’ within which they must be ready for trial" ( Galindo , 70 Misc.3d 16, 127 N.Y.S.3d 223, 2020 N.Y. Slip Op. 20147, *2-3 ).

A criminal action is commenced by the filing of an accusatory instrument against a defendant (see CPL 1.20 [17] ). It is settled law that the date on which an accusatory instrument is filed is excluded from a 30.30 computation (see People v. Stiles , 70 N.Y.2d 765, 767, 520 N.Y.S.2d 745, 514 N.E.2d 1368 [1987] ). In the absence of a waiver, a defendant has the right to be prosecuted on an information, (see CPL 170.65 [1] ), and the People, as of January 1, 2020, cannot be ready for trial unless all counts in the misdemeanor complaint have been converted to an information (see id. 30.30 [5-a]). An information is facially sufficient when, among other things, "non-hearsay allegations of the factual part ... and/or of any supporting depositions establish, if true, every element of the offense charged and the defendant's commission thereof" (id. 100.40 [1] [c]; see also 100.40 [1] [a]-[b]; 100.15).

Historically, the People's trial readiness encompasses two necessary elements (see People v. Kendzia , 64 N.Y.2d 331, 337, 486 N.Y.S.2d 888, 476 N.E.2d 287 [1985] ). First, the People must communicate their readiness, either by making a statement of readiness in open court or by serving on defendant and filing with the court a written notice of readiness (see id. ). Second, the People must in fact be ready for trial at the time that they communicate readiness, as "[t]he statute contemplates an indication of present readiness, not a prediction or expectation of future readiness" ( id. ). Declaring "readiness at a time when the People are not actually ready is illusory and insufficient to stop the running of the speedy trial clock" ( People v. England , 84 N.Y.2d 1, 4, 613 N.Y.S.2d 854, 636 N.E.2d 1387 [1994] ). Thus, "[t]he inquiry is whether the People have done all that is required of them to bring the case to a point where it may be tried" ( id. ). As the Court of Appeals has cautioned, "the statement ‘ready for trial’ contemplates more than merely mouthing those words" ( id. ; see also People v. Brown , 28 N.Y.3d 392, 404, 45 N.Y.S.3d 320, 68 N.E.3d 45 [2016] ).

On January 1, 2020, substantial changes to New York's criminal justice system took effect. Chief among them is the requirement that the People cannot be ready for trial unless they have first served on defendant and filed with the court a certificate of compliance certifying that they have complied with their discovery obligations pursuant to CPL 245.20 (see CPL 30.30 [5] ). CPL 245.50 [3] states, in relevant part, that "[t]he prosecution shall not be deemed ready for trial for purposes of section 30.30 ... until it has filed a proper certificate pursuant to subdivision one of this section." Once the People communicate their readiness for trial, the Court is now required to "make inquiry on the record as to their actual readiness," (id. 30.30 [5]), and if the Court determines that the People are not actually ready for trial, the People's "statement or notice of readiness shall not be valid for [speedy-trial purposes]" (id. ).

On a motion to dismiss on speedy-trial ground, "the defendant bears the initial burden of demonstrating that the People were not ready within 90 days" ( People v. Sibblies , 22 N.Y.3d 1174, 1177, 985 N.Y.S.2d 474, 8 N.E.3d 852 [2014] ). "The burden then shifts to the People to establish that a period should be excluded in computing the time within which they were required to be prepared for trial" ( id. ). When a delay is not attributable solely to the People, time may be excluded for numerous reasons, including "a reasonable period of delay resulting from ... pre-trial motions" ( CPL 30.30 [4] ; see also People v. Dean , 45 N.Y.2d 651, 656-657, 412 N.Y.S.2d 353, 384 N.E.2d 1277 [1978] ).

COMPUTATION OF TIME

November 19, 2019 to January 6, 2020

In this action, the People filed an accusatory instrument, specifically, a misdemeanor complaint, with the Court on November 19, 2019, and Defendant was arraigned on the complaint on the same date. At Defendant's arraignment, the Court determined that the People needed a supporting deposition to convert the misdemeanor complaint to an information, since the complaint clearly contained hearsay allegations, and adjourned the action to January 7, 2020, for conversion. The People did not file a supporting deposition off calendar prior to the January 7, 2020, court date. Thus, as the misdemeanor complaint was not converted to an information during the time period of November 20, 2019 (the date that the speedy-trial clock began), to January 6, 2020, this entire period, a total of 48 days, is chargeable to the People.

Days Charged to the People During This Time Period: 48

Total Days Charged to the People: 48

January 7, 2020 to February 18, 2020

At the January 7, 2020, court appearance, the Court determined that the People still needed a supporting deposition to convert the misdemeanor complaint to an information and adjourned the action to February 19, 2020, for conversion. On January 22, 2020, the People filed a superseding information and supporting deposition off calendar. The speedy-trial clock, however, continued to run since the People did not file a certificate of compliance and notice of readiness off calendar until February 10, 2020. Thus, as the misdemeanor complaint was not converted to an information during the time period of January 7, 2020, to February 9, 2020, this period, a total of 34 days, is chargeable to the People.

With regard to the time period of January 1, 2020, to January 15, 2020, the People argue that this 15-day period¹ is excludable from a 30.30 computation as a reasonable amount of time to comply with their initial, automatic discovery obligations under CPL 245.10 [1] [a]. As previously stated, the People did not communicate readiness for trial prior to January 15, 2020, and the People could not have because they were still unconverted. While lower courts have split on the issue of whether the time period of January 1, 2020, when the criminal justice revisions took effect, to January 15, 2020, is chargeable to the People, this Court agrees with other lower courts that have held that this period is indeed chargeable to the People, (see People v. Sherrills , Crim Ct, Bronx County, Oct. 16, 2020, Stone, J., docket No. 2018BX034586 at 6; People v. Rambally , 68 Misc. 3d 1212[A], 2020 N.Y. Slip Op. 50921[U], *5, 2020 WL 4779547 [Nassau Dist. Ct. 2020] ; People v. Lobato , 66 Misc. 3d 1230[A], 2020 N.Y. Slip Op. 50322[U], *4, 2020 WL 1071377 [Crim. Ct., Kings County 2020] ), and hereby rejects the People's argument. Neither CPL 30.30 nor Article 245 provide a grace period that tolls the speedy-trial clock for 15 days for the People to comply with their initial, automatic discovery obligations. Furthermore, this Court is convinced that if it was the intention of the legislature to do so, it would have. Clearly, the People's trial readiness is now directly tied to meeting their discovery obligations, "such that discovery compliance is a condition precedent to a valid announcement of readiness for trial" ( Lobato , 2020 N.Y. Slip Op. 50322[U], *3 ).

Whether the time period of February 10, 2020, to February 18, 2020, is chargeable to the People hinges on whether the People filed a valid certificate of compliance on February 10, 2020. The parties do not dispute that the following items of discovery, which the Court holds "relate to the subject matter of the case," ( CPL 245.20 [1] ), had not been disclosed prior to the People filing their certificate of compliance: "the arrest log; the patrol/roll call log and Memobook...