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THE PEOPLE DID NOT EXERCISE DUE DILIGENCE IN PROVIDING DISCOVERY; THE CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE WAS INVALID AND DID NOT STOP THE SPEEDY-TRIAL CLOCK (CT APP).

The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Halligan, determined the People did not exercise due diligence in providing discovery to the defense. Therefore the certificate of compliance (COC) was invalid and did not stop the speedy trial clock. The prosecution was time-barred:

In 2019, the New York State Legislature enacted sweeping reforms that expanded and restructured disclosure obligations in criminal cases, effective at the start of 2020 (see L 2019, ch 59, § 1, pt LLL). This appeal concerns a new requirement set forth in CPL article 245 that the People file a certificate of compliance (COC) with their statutory disclosure obligations (see CPL 245.50 [1], [3]). * * *

Due diligence is a mixed question of fact and law, and thus we consider whether the fact finder’s conclusions are supported by the record … . Viewed under the proper legal standard, there is no record support for the conclusion of the courts below that prior to filing the initial COC, the People exercised due diligence and made reasonable inquiries to identify mandatory discovery items relating to this case.

The belated disclosure here consisted of routinely produced disclosure materials—the creation of at least one of which was mandated by law … . The absence of such significant items of disclosure was readily noticed by the defense, which then brought it to the attention of the People and the court. The prosecution had two opportunities to establish that they had exercised due diligence, but failed to do so. At the appearance on May 26th, in which defense counsel first called attention to the missing items, the prosecutor simply asserted that he had “checked” without any elaboration as to what efforts were made to verify whether there was any outstanding discovery or whether the disclosure requested by the defense—which was in the possession of the People (see CPL 245.20 [2])—actually existed. The prosecutor speculated that such disclosure items did not exist and had not been created, and otherwise stated in a cursory fashion that all discovery had been turned over. When the parties appeared on July 6th following Bay’s CPL 30.30 motion, the People again made no mention of any efforts taken to ascertain the existence of discovery materials before the COC was filed, nor did they explain why some discovery was initially missing or how it came into their possession. People v Bay, 2023 NY Slip Op 06407, CtApp 12-14-23

Practice Point: Here the People did not exercise due diligence in complying with their discovery obligations. Therefore the certificate of compliance (COC) was invalid and did not stop the speedy trial clock. If the People can demonstrate they exercised due diligence in providing discovery, the COC will not be deemed improper.

 

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