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DEFENDANT COMMITTED CRIMES IN ONE COUNTY AND LED THE POLICE ON A CAR CHASE WHICH ENDED IN ANOTHER COUNTY; SOME OF THE CHARGES STEMMED FROM THE CAR CHASE; THE JUDGE SHOULD NOT HAVE INSTRUCTED THE JURY THAT THE PEOPLE HAD GEOGRAPHIC JURISDICTION OVER ALL THE COUNTS IF THE PEOPLE HAD JURISDICTION OVER ONE COUNT (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, ordering a new trial on some of the charges, determined the judge should not have instructed the jury that finding the People had geographic jurisdiction over one count proved the county with jurisdiction over all counts. Defendant had fled the scene of the murder and led the police on a chase which ended in a different county. The counts at issue stemmed from the car chase:

“The defendant has the right at common law and under the State Constitution to be tried in the county where the crime was committed unless the Legislature has provided otherwise” … . “The burden is on the People to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the county where the crime is prosecuted is the proper venue because either the crime was committed there or one of the statutory exceptions is applicable” … , insofar as is relevant here, “an appropriate criminal court of a particular county” has jurisdiction of an offense where “[c]onduct occurred within such county sufficient to establish . . . [a]n element of such offense.” “[G]enerally it is for the jury to decide, as a matter of fact, the place where the crime was committed or any other fact relevant to venue” … .

Here, upon submitting the issue of venue regarding counts three, four, and seven to the jury, the Supreme Court “incorrectly instructed that a finding of geographic jurisdiction on one count effectively provided the County with jurisdiction over all the other counts” … . This error cannot be deemed harmless. Because a defendant is entitled to have a jury, not the court, determine factual issues regarding venue, “[i]t is not enough that the record contains evidence” that an element of the offense occurred in the county asserting jurisdiction … . Rather, “it must appear from the instructions or by necessary implication from the verdicts that the jury made a finding of proper venue” … . People v Crumb, 2021 NY Slip Op 02816, Second Dept 5-5-21

 

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