SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION (SCI) JURISDICTIONALLY DEFECTIVE BECAUSE THE A FELONY COMPLAINT WAS NOT DISMISSED UNTIL AFTER THE PLEA TO THE SCI (FOURTH DEPT).
The Fourth Department, reversing defendant’s conviction by waiver of indictment and plea to a superior court information (SCI), noted that defendant was still charged with an A felony at the time of the waiver and plea. The A felony complaint was not dismissed until after the plea:
In a prior appeal, we reversed the judgment of conviction, determining that the superior court information (SCI) was jurisdictionally defective inasmuch as defendant had been charged with, inter alia, a class A felony and thus could not validly waive indictment or consent to be prosecuted by an SCI … . We thus vacated the plea and waiver of indictment and dismissed the SCI, noting that ” the People may present the case to the [g]rand [j]ury’ ” … .
On remittal, the People did not present the case to a grand jury but, rather, made a second attempt to proceed by SCI. As the People correctly concede, the SCI is again jurisdictionally defective inasmuch as the felony complaint charging defendant with the class A felony was not dismissed until after the waiver of indictment and plea to the SCI. As a result, defendant was still “charged” with a class A felony when he waived indictment and consented to be prosecuted by an SCI. “Where, as here, a defendant is charged with a class A felony, the defendant cannot validly waive indictment or consent to be prosecuted by a superior court information” … . We therefore vacate defendant’s plea and his waiver of indictment, and we dismiss the SCI, noting again that ” the People may present the case to the [g]rand [j]ury’ ” … . People v Priest, 2017 NY Slip Op 07859, Fourth Dept 11-9-17
CRIMINAL LAW (SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION (SCI) JURISDICTIONALLY DEFECTIVE BECAUSE THE A FELONY COMPLAINT WAS NOT DISMISSED UNTIL AFTER THE PLEA TO THE SCI (FOURTH DEPT))/WAIVER OF INDICTMENT (SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION (SCI) JURISDICTIONALLY DEFECTIVE BECAUSE THE A FELONY COMPLAINT WAS NOT DISMISSED UNTIL AFTER THE PLEA TO THE SCI (FOURTH DEPT))/SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION (SCI) (SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION (SCI) JURISDICTIONALLY DEFECTIVE BECAUSE THE A FELONY COMPLAINT WAS NOT DISMISSED UNTIL AFTER THE PLEA TO THE SCI (FOURTH DEPT))