You are here: / / MOTION FOR SEVERANCE SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED; DEFENDANT AND CO-DEFENDANT...
,

MOTION FOR SEVERANCE SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED; DEFENDANT AND CO-DEFENDANT EACH CLAIMED THE OTHER POSSESSED THE COCAINE FOUND IN THE CAR AFTER A TRAFFIC STOP (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing defendant’s conviction, determined defendant’s (Maldonaldo’s) trial should have been severed from the co-defendant’s trial;

… [W]e agree with defendant that his motion for a separate trial should have been granted (see CPL 200.40 [1]). “[S]everance is compelled where the core of each defense is in irreconcilable conflict with the other and where there is a significant danger, as both defenses are portrayed to the trial court, that the conflict alone would lead the jury to infer [the] defendant’s guilt” … . Through counsel and by testifying on his own behalf, Maldonado denied knowledge of the cocaine’s existence in his car and instead pointed the finger at defendant. Specifically, he testified that defendant had brought the Bugles chip bag into the car, that he did not know the contents of that bag, that he would not have allowed the bag in his car if he did and that defendant had his hands in the area where the bag was later discovered when the traffic stop was initiated. In contrast, defendant argued — through counsel and without testifying — that he lacked knowledge of the cocaine’s presence in the car and that the cocaine must have belonged to Maldonado, given that it was found in Maldonado’s car and that he had a criminal history involving drug possession and distribution — a subject brought out during cross-examination of Maldonado. By seeking to implicate each other, defendant’s and Maldonado’s defenses were clearly antagonistic, mutually exclusive and irreconcilable, and created “a significant possibility that the jury unjustifiably concluded by virtue of the conflict itself that both defenses were incredible and gave undue weight to the [People’s] evidence” … . People v Colon, 2019 NY Slip Op 08449,Third Dept 11-21-19

 

You might also like
THE TRIAL JUDGE DID NOT PROCEED TO STEP THREE OF THE BATSON ANALYSIS OF THE PEOPLE’S PEREMPTORY CHALLENGE TO A JUROR; MATTER REMITTED FOR THAT PURPOSE (THIRD DEPT).
THE ELICITATION OF TESTIMONY FROM A DETECTIVE THAT DEFENDANT INVOKED HIS RIGHT TO COUNSEL AND HIS RIGHT AGAINST SELF-INCRIMINATION WAS SUBJECT TO A HARMLESS ERROR ANALYSIS AND DID NOT REQUIRE REVERSAL; THE DISSENT ARGUED THE ABSENCE OF A CURATIVE INSTRUCTION RENDERED THE ERROR REVERSIBLE (THIRD DEPT).
CONSPIRACY COUNTS FATALLY FLAWED, NO OVERT ACT WAS ALLEGED, CONVICTIONS REVERSED, COUNTS DISMISSED (THIRD DEPT),
IN A DESIGN-BUILD TURNKEY PROJECT, A PROPERTY OWNER IS NOT A THIRD PARTY BENEFICIARY OF CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO BY THE TURNKEY BUILDER IN CHARGE OF THE PROJECT (THIRD DEPT).
Organizations Representing Lakeshore Residents Should Have Been Allowed to Intervene in an Action Concerning Regulation of Lake Water Levels (Dictated by an 80-Year-Old Injunction)—Neither the Doctrine of Collateral Estoppel Nor Laches Was a Bar to the Relief Sought by the Lakeshore Residents
SECURITY OFFICERS NOT EMPLOYEES OF PLACEMENT SERVICE.
THE CHILD’S STATEMENTS ABOUT SEXUAL TOUCHING WERE ADEQUATELY CORROBORATED AND FATHER’S EXPLANATION FOR THE TOUCHING WAS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE EVIDENCE (THIRD DEPT).
RESPONDENT WAS NOT AFFORDED EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL IN THIS FAMILY OFFENSE PROCEEDING, DEFENSE COUNSEL DID ALMOST NOTHING TO ASSIST HIS CLIENT, FINDINGS AND ORDER OF PROTECTION REVERSED (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

THE LANDLORD DEMONSTRATED THE ASSAILANT IN THIS THIRD-PARTY ASSAULT CASE WAS... JUDGE SHOULD NOT HAVE REFUSED TO CONSIDER THE PEOPLE’S LATE RESPONSE TO...