NACDL and NYSACDL as Amici in United States v. Treacy, Dkt No. 09-3939-cr, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, agrue on behalf of Appellant Treacy that the defendant's Sixth Amendment Right to Confrontation cannot be abridged in favor of a testimonal privilege invoked by a journalist who was called as a prosecution witness.  Read the brief here.    

NYSACDL joins NACDL in a Petition for Rehearing en banc before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Rosario v. Ercole, Dkt. No. 08-5521-pr; Motion for leave to file as Amicus Curiae.  At issue is New York State's standard of review of ineffective assistance of counsel claims which falls short of the constitutional standard as announced in Strickland v. Washington.  En banc review is warranted here as several panel decisions have questioned the constitutionality of the New York standard while others have held that it is not contrary to federal law. 

The New York Court of Appeals has ruled that the "depraved indifference" mens rea element in a first degree assault is not satisfied by proof of a defendant's conduct in drinking to excess knowing that at some point, he would drive himself home.  The defendant was too drunk at the time of the ensuing car crash to have fomed the requisite intent.  The People, however, sought to establish that he knowingly created a grave risk of harm when he drank until extremely inebriated knowing that he would later drive.  The Appellate Division reversed the first degree assault conviction finding that the defendant's state of mind at the time he imbibed was too temporaly remote from the time he drove and wrecked into oncoming traffic.  The Court of Appeals upheld the appellate court's ruling.   People v. Valencia. NYSACDL along with the Nassau County Criminal Courts Bar Association as Amicus Curiae submitted a brief on behalf of respondent Albeiro Valencia before the Court of Appeals, People V. Valencia, 58 AD3d 879, lv granted 12 NY3d 790.  Read the brief here.  

NYSACDL joins NACDL as Amicus Curiae in a brief filed before the New York Court of Appeals in support of appellants, Danny Colon and Anthony Ortiz in People v. Colon, 55 A.D.3d 444, 445 (1st Dept. 2008). The primary issue addressed by amici is whether a defendant should be required to establish the admissibility at trial of exculpatory evidence which the prosecutor failed to disclose in order to meet Brady’s materiality standard. The Appellate Division ruled that the prosecutor improperly withheld witness interview notes which suggested that someone other than the defendants were involved in the double murder with which they were charged. The court however determined that the evidence was not material because the notes themselves were inadmissible hearsa,and the appellants could not show they that might have led to exculpatory evidence which was otherwise admissible. In keeping with their mission of seeking to ensure due process and protection of the rights of all, NACDL and NYSACDL believes that disclosure of exculpatory information is vital to the integrity, reliability and proper functioning of the criminal justice system because it helps ensure the fairness and accuracy of criminal trials. Click here to read the brief.

NYSACDL recently joined NACDL and The New York Council of Defense Lawyers in an Amici brief filed on behalf of defendant Ivy Woolf Turk in the U.S. District Court Southern District.  At issue is the loss analysis to be applied under the Sentencing Guidleines in fraud cases. To read the amici brief in U.S. v. Ivy Woolf Turk, please click here. 

Whether a trial court has the authority to fashion new rules governing admission of evidence, in this case, permitting a complainant to testify from another state via live video transmission, is the question address by NYSACDL in its amicus brief on behalf of the appellant in People v. Wrotten.  Read the brief here.