You are here: / / DEFENSE COUNSEL’S INTRODUCING INTO EVIDENCE A SEARCH WARRANT APPLICATION...
, ,

DEFENSE COUNSEL’S INTRODUCING INTO EVIDENCE A SEARCH WARRANT APPLICATION WHICH IMPLICATED THE DEFENDANT IN CRIMES CONSTITUTED INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing defendant’s conviction, determined defense counsel’s placing in evidence a search warrant application which included prejudicial information about crimes involving the defendant amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel:

… [R]ather than a single error, we are confronted with a set of three closely-related errors at two stages of the trial: the failure to redact the irrelevant and prejudicial hearsay from the search warrant application before introducing it for the limited purpose of revealing [the applicant’s] errors; the failure to request a limiting instruction that would have advised the jury of that purpose; and the subsequent failure to object to the prosecutor’s repeated exhortations to the jury to rely on the application’s hearsay information as proof of defendant’s guilt. These errors, as well as the prejudicial testimony elicited from the detective, gain particular significance in the light of the close nature of the other evidence. The admissible proof that defendant constructively possessed the contraband and had the requisite intent to sell, although adequate to support the verdict, was not overwhelming. Further, the information in the application directly contradicted counsel’s theory of defense, which was that the girlfriend, and not defendant, possessed and sold the drugs found in the apartment. Thus, although counsel’s challenged conduct took place in the context of an otherwise effective performance, we find that the cumulative effect of his errors deprived defendant of a fair trial and requires reversal of the judgment … . People v Newman, 2019 NY Slip Op 01263, Third Dept 2-20-19

 

You might also like
“Out-of-Title” Work Did Not Warrant Higher Pay
Second Summary Judgment Motion to Address Deficiencies in First Motion Should Not Have Been Entertained
Family Members Failed to Raise a Question of Fact About Whether Care-Provider Exercised Undue Influence Over Decedent
WAIVER OF APPEAL INVALID; THERE WAS PROBABLE CAUSE FOR THE DWI ARREST EVEN THOUGH NO FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS WERE CONDUCTED; BETTER PRACTICE WOULD BE FOR THE PROSECUTOR TO PLACE THE EVIDENCE OF DEFENDANT’S GUILT ON THE RECORD AT THE TIME OF AN ALFORD PLEA (THIRD DEPT).
Denial of For Cause Juror Challenges Required Reversal
EVEN WHERE PLAINTIFF CAN NOT DEMONSTRATE SERIOUS INJURY WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE NO-FAULT LAW, PLAINTIFF MAY BE ABLE TO RECOVER ECONOMIC LOSS ABOVE THE STATUTORY BASIC ECONOMIC LOSS ($50,000).
DEFENDANT ALLEGED HIS ATTORNEY DELIBERATELY WITHHELD IMPEACHMENT EVIDENCE ABOUT AN EXPERT WITNESS WHEN HIS ATTORNEY PERSUADED HIM TO HIRE THE EXPERT; BECAUSE OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE EXPERT’S TESTIMONY, A HEARING ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO VACATE HIS CONVICTION ON INEFFECTIVE-ASSISTANCE GROUNDS SHOULD HAVE BEEN HELD; MATTER REMITTED (THIRD DEPT).
IN APPROVING A WIND TURBINE INSTALLATION THE STATE BOARD ON ELECTRIC GENERATION AND SITING AND THE ENVIRONMENT PROPERLY REFUSED TO CONSIDER LOCAL LAWS ENACTED BY THE TOWN AFTER THE EVIDENTIARY HEARING WAS CLOSED; THE LOCAL LAWS SOUGHT TO IMPOSE A MORATORIUM ON THE PROJECT (THIRD DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

COLLEGE DID NOT OWE A DUTY OF CARE TO TWO STUDENTS WHO DIED IN A FIRE IN THE... PEOPLE’S FAILURE TO PROCURE ANOTHER ACCUSATORY INSTRUMENT AFTER THE COURT...