PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE INSTRUCTED THE GRAND JURY ON THE AGENCY DEFENSE IN THIS CRIMINAL SALE OF MARIJUANA CASE, INDICTMENT PROPERLY DISMISSED.

The Third Department determined County Court properly reinspected the grand jury minutes pursuant to a second motion by defense counsel and properly dismissed the indictment because the People failed to instruct the grand jury on an applicable defense. Because the first motion to inspect argued the evidence before the grand jury was insufficient, the law of the case doctrine did not prohibit the second motion, which argued the proceedings were defective. The defendant was charged with criminal sale of marijuana.  However, the facts supported the theory the defendant was acting as an agent for the buyer:

 

… [W]hile there is no requirement that the grand jury “be charged with every potential defense suggested by the evidence” … , the People “must charge . . . those defenses that the evidence will reasonably support” … . As this Court recently reiterated, “[u]nder the agency doctrine, a person who acts solely as the agent of a buyer in procuring drugs for the buyer is not guilty of selling the drug to the buyer, or of possessing it with intent to sell it to the buyer. Whether the defendant was a seller, or merely a purchaser doing a favor for a friend, is generally a factual question [to be resolved] . . . based upon [considerations of] factors such as the relationship between the buyer and the defendant, who initiated the transaction, whether the defendant had previously engaged in drug transfers and whether he or she profited from the sale” … . * * *

 

…. [T]he evidence before the grand jury reasonably supported the defense of agency; hence, the People’s failure to instruct the grand jury in this regard rendered that proceeding defective — particularly in view of the fact that the People were on notice of this potential defense prior to the commencement thereof. There is no question that it was the buyer who initiated the sale and, given the relationship between defendant and the buyer’s stepbrother, the evidence reasonably suggested that defendant was doing a favor for the stepsister of one of his friends. Additionally, none of the testimony offered before the grand jury revealed that defendant had a prior history of drug sales, and the evidence that defendant profited from the subject transaction was tenuous at best. Under these circumstances, County Court properly granted defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment under CPL 210.35 (5) … . People v Gallo, 2016 NY Slip Op 00064, 3rd Dept 1-7-16

 

 

 

 

 

 

CRIMINAL LAW (GRAND JURY SHOULD HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED ON AGENCY DEFENSE)/GRAND JURIES (PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE INSTRUCTED JURY ON AGENCY DEFENSE)/AGENCY DEFENSE (GRAND JURY SHOULD HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED ON AGENCY DEFENSE)/MARIJUANA, CRIMINAL SALE (GRAND JURY SHOULD HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED ON AGENCY DEFENSE)