IN A SIGNIFICANT DEPARTURE FROM PRECEDENT BASED UPON A NOVEMBER 2019 COURT OF APPEALS DECISION, THE FAILURE TO INCLUDE THE DATE, APPROXIMATE TIME OR PLACE OF A CHARGED OFFENSE IN A SUPERIOR COURT INFORMATION (SCI) OR A WAIVER OF INDICTMENT IS NOT A JURISDICTIONAL DEFECT AND THEREFORE MUST BE PRESERVED FOR APPEAL (THIRD DEPT).
The Third Department, departing from its precedent based upon a recent (November 2019) ruling by the Court of Appeals, determined the failure to include the date, approximate time or place of the charged offense in a superior court information (SCI) and/or a waiver of appeal is not a jurisdictional defect. Any challenge to the SCI or waiver of appeal on this ground must be preserved and, if it is not, the challenge is forfeited by a guilty plea:
… [W]e note that this Court, relying on People v Boston (75 NY2d 585, 589 [1990]), has previously held that the failure to strictly comply with the statutory requirements for waiving indictment pursuant to CPL 195.20 — including the failure to include the approximate time of each offense charged in the waiver of indictment or SCI — constitutes a jurisdictional defect that may be raised at any time, is not subject to the preservation requirement and is not precluded by a defendant’s guilty plea or waiver of the right to appeal … . However, the Court of Appeals recently decided People v Lang (___ NY3d ___, 2019 NY Slip Op 08545 [2019]) wherein it rejected the argument that omission of the approximate time of the charged offense in the waiver of indictment and/or SCI constitutes a jurisdictional defect — the same argument presently raised by defendant — specifically holding that the omission of such a fact presents a mere “technical challenge” as it constitutes “non-elemental factual information that is not necessary for a jurisdictionally-sound indictment” … . Accordingly, insofar as the subject waiver of indictment and SCI provided defendant with adequate notice of the date and location of the charged offenses, and as omission of the approximate time of the charged offense from the waiver of indictment and/or SCI constituted a nonjurisdictional defect … to which defendant did not object at a time when Supreme Court could have addressed the alleged deficiency, defendant’s present challenge was forfeited by his guilty plea … . People v Shindler, 2020 NY Slip Op 00327, Third Dept 1-16-20