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IF POSSIBLE, A RECONSTRUCTION HEARING MUST BE HELD TO DETERMINE DEFENDANT’S COMPETENCY AT THE TIME HE ENTERED A GUILTY PLEA, IF A HEARING CANNOT BE HELD THE PLEA MUST BE VACATED.

The Fourth Department determined a reconstruction hearing should be held to determine whether defendant was competent to stand trial in 2008 when he entered a guilty plea. If a reconstruction hearing cannot be held, the plea should be vacated. At the time of the plea two examining psychiatrists came to opposite conclusions about defendant’s competency. Yet the guilty plea was accepted without holding a competency hearing:

“Article 730 of the Criminal Procedure Law sets out the procedures courts of this State must follow in order to prevent the criminal trial of [an incompetent] defendant” … . The CPL expressly provides that, “[w]hen the examination reports submitted to the court show that the psychiatric examiners are not unanimous in their opinion as to whether the defendant is or is not an incapacitated person, . . . the court must conduct a hearing to determine the issue of capacity” … . “That section is mandatory and not discretionary” … , and a plea of guilty cannot be accepted unless the requisite hearing is held and the defendant is found competent … . People v Pett, 2017 NY Slip Op 02178, 4th Dept 3-24-17

CRIMINAL LAW (IF POSSIBLE, A RECONSTRUCTION HEARING MUST BE HELD TO DETERMINE DEFENDANT’S COMPETENCY AT THE TIME HE ENTERED A GUILTY PLEA, IF A HEARING CANNOT BE HELD THE PLEA MUST BE VACATED)/VACATE CONVICTION, MOTION TO (IF POSSIBLE, A RECONSTRUCTION HEARING MUST BE HELD TO DETERMINE DEFENDANT’S COMPETENCY AT THE TIME HE ENTERED A GUILTY PLEA, IF A HEARING CANNOT BE HELD THE PLEA MUST BE VACATED)/COMPETENCY (CRIMINAL LAW, (IF POSSIBLE, A RECONSTRUCTION HEARING MUST BE HELD TO DETERMINE DEFENDANT’S COMPETENCY AT THE TIME HE ENTERED A GUILTY PLEA, IF A HEARING CANNOT BE HELD THE PLEA MUST BE VACATED)

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