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PROPER FOUNDATION HAD BEEN LAID, FACEBOOK MESSAGES BETWEEN MOTHER AND CHILD SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED IN EVIDENCE IN THIS ABANDONMENT PROCEEDING.

In an abandonment proceeding, Family Court erred when it would not allow Facebook messages between mother and child into evidence. The Third Department determined a proper foundation for the Facebook messages had been laid. The messages were crucial to mother’s attempt to demonstrate she had maintained contact with her child:

A recorded conversation — such as a printed copy of the content of a set of cell phone instant messages — may be authenticated through, among other methods, the “testimony of a participant in the conversation that it is a complete andaccurate reproduction of the conversation and has not been altered” … . Notably, “[t]he credibility of the authenticating witness and any motive she [or he] may have had to alter the evidence go to the weight to be accorded this evidence, rather than its admissibility” … . Respondent testified that she was present when her counsel printed the Facebook messages at his office, and that she reviewed the entire document to ensure that it was a full and complete copy. The … stipulation and respondent’s testimony, when combined with her adult son’s testimony confirming that he had provided respondent with his account information, password and permission to use the account for communication with the child, constituted a sufficient foundation for the admission into evidence of the printed messages and her related testimony … .

By erroneously precluding this proffered evidence, Family Court deprived respondent of her due process right to a full and fair opportunity to be heard. In a proceeding to terminate parental rights “the court is obliged to ensure that the proceeding is fair and that due process is afforded to an individual whose parental rights may be terminated” … . The frequency and content of these Facebook communications are relevant in determining whether respondent initiated or maintained substantial contact with the child during the statutory period … .  Matter of Colby II. (Sheba II.), 2016 NY Slip Op 08402, 3rd Dept 12-15-16

 

FAMILY LAW (PROPER FOUNDATION HAD BEEN LAID, FACEBOOK MESSAGES BETWEEN MOTHER AND CHILD SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED IN EVIDENCE IN THIS ABANDONMENT PROCEEDING)/ABANDONMENT (FAMILY LAW, PROPER FOUNDATION HAD BEEN LAID, FACEBOOK MESSAGES BETWEEN MOTHER AND CHILD SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED IN EVIDENCE IN THIS ABANDONMENT PROCEEDING)/EVIDENCE (FAMILY LAW, PROPER FOUNDATION HAD BEEN LAID, FACEBOOK MESSAGES BETWEEN MOTHER AND CHILD SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED IN EVIDENCE IN THIS ABANDONMENT PROCEEDING)/FACEBOOK MESSAGES (FAMILY LAW, PROPER FOUNDATION HAD BEEN LAID, FACEBOOK MESSAGES BETWEEN MOTHER AND CHILD SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED IN EVIDENCE IN THIS ABANDONMENT PROCEEDING)/RECORDED CONVERSATION (FACEBOOK MESSAGES, FAMILY LAW, PROPER FOUNDATION HAD BEEN LAID, FACEBOOK MESSAGES BETWEEN MOTHER AND CHILD SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED IN EVIDENCE IN THIS ABANDONMENT PROCEEDING)

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HEARING SHOULD HAVE BEEN HELD ON BIRTH PARENT’S PETITION TO ENFORCE A POSTADOPTION AGREEMENT ALLOWING THE BIRTH PARENT’S VISITATION WITH THE CHILD.

The Third Department determined a hearing should have been held on a birth parent’s petition to enforce a postadoption agreement which allowed visitation by the parent:

Family Court erred in dismissing the petition without an evidentiary hearing. Pursuant to Domestic Relations Law § 112-b (4), birth parents and adoptive parents may enter into a legally enforceable agreement regarding postadoption contact that may thereafter be enforced by filing a petition in Family Court … . Enforcement of a postadoption contact agreement, however, “will only be ordered if it is determined to be in the child’s best interests” … , and “[a]n evidentiary hearing is generally necessary to determine what is in the best interests of the child” … .

Here, while there were three appearances in Family Court on the petition at which the interested parties made factual representations, primarily through counsel, and legal arguments on the merits of the petition, no testimony was taken and no documentary evidence was admitted for consideration. The child’s adoptive parents and the attorney for the child opposed enforcement of the postadoption contact agreement and any contact between the child and petitioner based upon, among other factors, an alleged multi-year lapse in contact between petitioner and the child. The information submitted to the court raised factual questions regarding whether visits with petitioner would be in the child’s best interests or detrimental to those interests, necessitating an evidentiary hearing on that determinative issue … .

Further, the adoptive parents are persons whose interests may be adversely or inequitably affected by an order enforcing the postadoption contact agreement and, therefore, they should have been named as parties … . Matter of Lynn X. (Joseph W.), 2016 NY Slip Op 08415, 3rd Dept 12-15-16

 

FAMILY LAW (HEARING SHOULD HAVE BEEN HELD ON BIRTH PARENT’S PETITION TO ENFORCE A POSTADOPTION AGREEMENT ALLOWING THE BIRTH PARENT’S VISITATION WITH THE CHILD)/POSTADOPTION AGREEMENT (HEARING SHOULD HAVE BEEN HELD ON BIRTH PARENT’S PETITION TO ENFORCE A POSTADOPTION AGREEMENT ALLOWING THE BIRTH PARENT’S VISITATION WITH THE CHILD)/VISITATION (FAMILY LAW, HEARING SHOULD HAVE BEEN HELD ON BIRTH PARENT’S PETITION TO ENFORCE A POSTADOPTION AGREEMENT ALLOWING THE BIRTH PARENT’S VISITATION WITH THE CHILD)/ADOPTION (POSTADOPTION AGREEMENTS, HEARING SHOULD HAVE BEEN HELD ON BIRTH PARENT’S PETITION TO ENFORCE A POSTADOPTION AGREEMENT ALLOWING THE BIRTH PARENT’S VISITATION WITH THE CHILD)

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FACULTY MEMBERS SUFFICIENTLY ALLEGED BREACH OF CONTRACT CAUSE OF ACTION AGAINST UNIVERSITY BASED UPON POLICIES DESCRIBED IN THE FACULTY HANDBOOK.

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined faculty members sufficiently alleged the policies in the university’s faculty handbook had the force of contract and therefore a breach of contract action was viable:

A university’s academic and administrative decisions require professional judgment and may only be reviewed by way of an article 78 proceeding to ensure that such decisions are not violative of the institution’s own rules and neither arbitrary nor irrational … . However, “[i]f the claim involves a matter of contractual right it may, of course, be vindicated in an action [at] law” … .

For the purpose of surviving respondents’ cross motion to dismiss, petitioners, tenured faculty members of respondent New York University’s School of Medicine, have sufficiently alleged that the policies contained in respondent’s Faculty Handbook, which “form part of the essential employment understandings between a member of the Faculty and the University,” have the force of contract … . Further, for the purposes of surviving respondents’ cross motion to dismiss, petitioners have sufficiently alleged that they had a mutual understanding with respondent that tenured faculty members’ salaries may not be involuntarily reduced. Additionally, petitioners have sufficiently alleged that they reasonably relied on oral representations by respondents that their salaries would not be involuntarily reduced. Matter of Monaco v New York Univ. & N.Y. Univ. School of Medicine, 2016 NY Slip Op 08467, 1st Dept 12-15-16

 

EMPLOYMENT LAW (FACULTY MEMBERS SUFFICIENTLY ALLEGED BREACH OF CONTRACT CAUSE OF ACTION AGAINST UNIVERSITY BASED UPON POLICIES DESCRIBED IN THE FACULTY HANDBOOK)/CONTRACT LAW (EMPLOYMENT LAW, FACULTY MEMBERS SUFFICIENTLY ALLEGED BREACH OF CONTRACT CAUSE OF ACTION AGAINST UNIVERSITY BASED UPON POLICIES DESCRIBED IN THE FACULTY HANDBOOK)/EDUCATION-SCHOOL LAW (UNIVERSITIES, FACULTY MEMBERS SUFFICIENTLY ALLEGED BREACH OF CONTRACT CAUSE OF ACTION AGAINST UNIVERSITY BASED UPON POLICIES DESCRIBED IN THE FACULTY HANDBOOK)

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HEARING OFFICER’S REFUSAL TO CALL A REQUESTED WITNESS REQUIRED ANNULMENT OF THE DETERMINATION.

The Third Department determined the hearing officer’s refusal to call a witness requested by the inmate required annulment:

Petitioner contends, among other things, that he was improperly denied the right to call as a witness an inmate who allegedly overheard a conversation between petitioner and the author of the misbehavior report establishing that the author lied about seeing petitioner place drugs on the food tray. According to petitioner, during this conversation the correction officer admitted that he reported that he saw petitioner put the drugs in the food tray in order to “cover his ass” after being advised to do so by another correction officer. At the hearing, petitioner maintained that the verbal exchange between the two officers revealing that the author was advised to make this misrepresentation was captured on a videotape of the area outside the observation room. When the videotape was played at the hearing, however, the audio was not working. Consequently, the only evidence that could potentially corroborate petitioner’s defense was the testimony of the other inmate.  Matter of McFarlane v Annucci, 2016 NY Slip Op 08432, 3rd Dept 12-15-16

DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS (INMATES) (HEARING OFFICER’S REFUSAL TO CALL A REQUESTED WITNESS REQUIRED ANNULMENT OF THE DETERMINATION)

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SUPPRESSION NOT RULED ON BELOW COULD NOT BE CONSIDERED ON APPEAL, STRIP AND BODY CAVITY SEARCHES CRITICIZED.

The First Department affirmed defendant’s conviction because he pled guilty before the court ruled on his suppression motion. Suppression therefore could not be considered on appeal. However, the court determined there was no justification for a strip search and warrantless body-cavity search:

… [T]here is merit to defendant’s claim that the police lacked the requisite reasonable suspicion to conduct a strip search. The record showed only that defendant was arrested during a buy-and-bust operation in a drug-prone location. Defendant was not observed reaching into his pants and no drugs were found on his clothing. “The police officers’ generalized knowledge that drug sellers often keep drugs in their buttocks, and the fact that no drugs were found in a search of defendant’s clothing [a]re insufficient” … .

There is also merit to defendant’s claim that the strip and visual body cavity search were not conducted in a reasonable manner and without a warrant or exigent circumstances. The record shows that defendant had his clothing torn from his body and was searched in the presence of four or five officers, belying the imperative to seek out “utmost privacy, and in the presence of only those members of the service reasonably necessary to conduct the search” to “achieve a balance between the privacy and personal dignity concerns of the [arrestee],” as set forth in the provisions of the NYPD Patrol Guide (Procedure No. 208.5[C][4] [2013]) concerning strip search procedures. The violence of the search — which resulted in physical injury to defendant requiring transfer to the hospital — was unnecessary particularly given that defendant was not being charged with a violent offense.

Further, the record indicates that defendant was very likely subjected to a warrantless [*2]manual cavity search of his rectum … . Potential dissemination or destruction of drugs was not a concern where defendant was already in a secure cell with five officers watching him … . People v Durham, 2016 NY Slip Op 08438, 1st Dept 12-15-16

CRIMINAL LAW (SUPPRESSION NOT RULED ON BELOW COULD NOT BE CONSIDERED ON APPEAL, STRIP AND BODY CAVITY SEARCHES CRITICIZED)/APPEALS (CRIMINAL LAW, SUPPRESSION NOT RULED ON BELOW COULD NOT BE CONSIDERED ON APPEAL, STRIP AND BODY CAVITY SEARCHES CRITICIZED)/EVIDENCE (CRIMINAL LAW, SUPPRESSION NOT RULED ON BELOW COULD NOT BE CONSIDERED ON APPEAL, STRIP AND BODY CAVITY SEARCHES CRITICIZED)/SEARCH AND SEIZURE (SUPPRESSION NOT RULED ON BELOW COULD NOT BE CONSIDERED ON APPEAL, STRIP AND BODY CAVITY SEARCHES CRITICIZED)/STRIP SEARCH (SUPPRESSION NOT RULED ON BELOW COULD NOT BE CONSIDERED ON APPEAL, STRIP AND BODY CAVITY SEARCHES CRITICIZED)/BODY CAVITY SEARCH (SUPPRESSION NOT RULED ON BELOW COULD NOT BE CONSIDERED ON APPEAL, STRIP AND BODY CAVITY SEARCHES CRITICIZED)

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DEFENDANT’S FAMILY IMPROPERLY EXCLUDED FROM THE COURTROOM, CONVICTION REVERSED.

The First Department reversed defendant’s conviction, finding that defendant’s family was improperly excluded from the courtroom:

Defendant’s family members were improperly excluded from the closed courtroom during the testimony of an undercover officer. It is undisputed that the evidence presented at a Hinton hearing did not demonstrate that the “exclusion of [defendant’s family members was] necessary to protect the interest advanced by the People in support of closure” … . The People ask us to interpret the record as indicating that the court did not, in fact, exclude defendant’s relatives. While the record arguably presents a degree of ambiguity in this regard, in that both the prosecutor, in the course of his argument about the officer’s efforts to conceal his identity, and the court, in discussing its decision, mentioned “the general public,” these ambiguous and equivocal indications are insufficient to persuade us that defendant’s family members were in fact allowed to be present.

The prosecutor requested that the courtroom be closed “entirely,” without making any specific provision for family members, and asserted that the closure requested was not “overly broad.” Defense counsel specifically asserted the right of the family members to be present. The court then granted the People’s application, making no specific allowance or arrangements for the family members to attend. Under these circumstances, we cannot fairly read the record to indicate that the presence of family members was permitted. People v Moore, 2016 NY Slip Op 08447, 1st Dept 12-15-16

 

CRIMINAL LAW (DEFENDANT’S FAMILY IMPROPERLY EXCLUDED FROM THE COURTROOM, CONVICTION REVERSED)/CLOSURE OF COURTROOM (DEFENDANT’S FAMILY IMPROPERLY EXCLUDED FROM THE COURTROOM, CONVICTION REVERSED)

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DENIALS OF PETITIONER’S REQUESTS FOR DOCUMENTS AND WITNESSES WERE PRESERVED FOR REVIEW, NO NEED FOR PETITIONER TO SPECIFICALLY OBJECT.

The Court of Appeals determined Supreme Court erred when it held petitioner (Henry, an inmate charged with participating in an assault) had not preserved evidentiary issues for review. Henry had requested certain documents and witness-testimony which were not provided. The Court of Appeals found the denial of Henry’s requests was preserved despite his failure to specifically object during the hearing:

An inmate charged with violating a prison regulation is entitled to due process protections which include a right “to call witnesses and present documentary evidence in his defense when permitting him to do so will not be unduly hazardous to institutional safety or correctional goals” … . Contrary to the conclusion of the Appellate Division, Henry cannot be deemed to have waived his challenges simply because he failed to make specific objections at the hearing.

In sum, the record shows that Henry plainly requested access to specific documents and witnesses, and the Hearing Officer denied some of those requests. In light of the denial of Henry’s requests, the courts below erred in determining that Henry’s failure to specifically object to the Hearing Officer’s unfavorable rulings constituted a failure to preserve those rulings for judicial review. Matter of Henry v Fischer, 2016 NY Slip Op 08395, CtApp 12-15-16

 

DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS (INMATES) (DENIALS OF PETITIONER’S REQUESTS FOR DOCUMENTS AND WITNESSES WERE PRESERVED FOR REVIEW, NO NEED FOR PETITIONER TO SPECIFICALLY OBJECT)/EVIDENCE (DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS (INMATES), DENIALS OF PETITIONER’S REQUESTS FOR DOCUMENTS AND WITNESSES WERE PRESERVED FOR REVIEW, NO NEED FOR PETITIONER TO SPECIFICALLY OBJECT)/APPEALS (DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS (INMATES), DENIALS OF PETITIONER’S REQUESTS FOR DOCUMENTS AND WITNESSES WERE PRESERVED FOR REVIEW, NO NEED FOR PETITIONER TO SPECIFICALLY OBJECT)

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THREE-YEAR-OLD SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM’S STATEMENTS AND GESTURES, MADE WITHIN A HALF HOUR OF THE ABUSE, PROPERLY ADMITTED AS EXCITED UTTERANCES.

The Court of Appeals determined the trial court did not err when it admitted the three-year-old victim’s statements (and gestures) made within half an hour of the sexual abuse as excited utterances. The same statements made at the hospital three hours later may not have been admissible as excited utterances, but any error in admitting them was deemed harmless:

We discern no error in the admission of the child’s initial statements to her mother and father as excited utterances. The evidence established that the child was in a highly emotional state when she first stepped off the bus and that she continued to cry inconsolably as she uttered the phrase “Señor Bus” to her mother and father at home and made a licking gesture with her tongue. Those statements were made within a half hour of the startling event, while the child was still under the stress of excitement, and therefore were properly admitted at trial … .

The child repeated the same phrase and gesture to her parents three hours later at a hospital and also pulled her mother’s hand to the child’s genital area. Even accepting defendant’s contention that the stress of excitement had sufficiently abated by the time the child made those later statements, any error in their admission was harmless … . Forensic testing confirmed the presence of defendant’s DNA in the child’s underwear, and the bus matron provided unrefuted testimony that defendant had altered his bus route in such a way that the child was alone with defendant for approximately thirty minutes on the day of the incident. Additionally, the child’s mother testified that the child ran into the house screaming and crying as soon as she got off the bus, and that the child’s underwear had been pulled down and were bunched up inside the leg of her pants. The emergency room doctor found redness and a sore on the child’s genital area that he believed were the result of external trauma, i.e., touching. People v Hernandez, 2016 NY Slip Op 08396, CtApp 12-15-16

 

CRIMINAL LAW (THREE-YEAR-OLD SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM’S STATEMENTS AND GESTURES, MADE WITHIN A HALF HOUR OF THE ABUSE, PROPERLY ADMITTED AS EXCITED UTTERANCES)/EVIDENCE (CRIMINAL LAW, THREE-YEAR-OLD SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM’S STATEMENTS AND GESTURES, MADE WITHIN A HALF HOUR OF THE ABUSE, PROPERLY ADMITTED AS EXCITED UTTERANCES)/HEARSAY (CRIMINAL LAW, THREE-YEAR-OLD SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM’S STATEMENTS AND GESTURES, MADE WITHIN A HALF HOUR OF THE ABUSE, PROPERLY ADMITTED AS EXCITED UTTERANCES)/EXCITED UTTERANCES (CRIMINAL LAW, THREE-YEAR-OLD SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM’S STATEMENTS AND GESTURES, MADE WITHIN A HALF HOUR OF THE ABUSE, PROPERLY ADMITTED AS EXCITED UTTERANCES)

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NARROW EXCEPTIONS TO PRESERVATION REQUIREMENT DID NOT APPLY, DEFENDANT DID NOT MOVE TO WITHDRAW HIS PLEA.

The Court of Appeals determined defendant’s failure to move to withdraw his plea or object precluded review:

Defendant’s challenges to the validity of his guilty plea are unpreserved and unreviewable by this Court. Defendant had “an opportunity to seek relief from the sentencing court” by moving to withdraw his plea based on his alleged justification defense, and therefore the “narrow exception to the preservation requirement” does not apply … . Defendant said nothing during the plea colloquy or the sentencing proceeding that negated an element of the crime or raised the possibility of a justification defense, and therefore People v Lopez (71 NY2d 662, 666 [1988]) is inapplicable.

Defendant’s further contention that the court failed to advise him of the immigration consequences of his plea is also unpreserved for appellate review. The court informed defendant during the plea colloquy that if he was not a citizen, he could face deportation as a result of his guilty plea. Defendant therefore was informed before he pleaded guilty of the possibility that he could be deported as a result of his plea, and if he was confused about that issue, he was obligated to move to withdraw his plea on that ground before the sentencing court … . People v Pastor, 2016 NY Slip Op 08399, CtApp 12-15-16

 

CRIMINAL LAW (NARROW EXCEPTIONS TO PRESERVATION REQUIREMENT DID NOT APPLY, DEFENDANT DID NOT MOVE TO WITHDRAW HIS PLEA)/APPEALS (CRIMINAL LAW, NARROW EXCEPTIONS TO PRESERVATION REQUIREMENT DID NOT APPLY, DEFENDANT DID NOT MOVE TO WITHDRAW HIS PLEA)

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DIRECT APPEAL CANNOT BE DISMISSED BASED UPON THE APPELLANT’S INVOLUNTARY DEPORTATION.

The Court of Appeals determined defendant's direct appeal should not have been dismissed based upon defendant's deportation, even though there was no relationship between the matter on appeal and the deportation:

We recently … held “that [People v] Ventura [(17 NY3d 675 [2011])] prohibits intermediate appellate courts from dismissing pending direct appeals due to the defendant's involuntary deportation, regardless of the contentions raised by the defendant on appeal” … . We further explained that “[o]ur holding in Ventura did not depend upon any causal relationship between the defendant's conviction and deportation” … .

Here, the Appellate Term erred as a matter of law insofar as it granted the People's motion to dismiss defendant's direct appeal from his judgment of conviction because he was involuntarily deported. This error requires reversal. People v Morales, 2016 NY Slip Op 08397, CtApp 12-15-16

CRIMINAL LAW (DIRECT APPEAL CANNOT BE DISMISSED BASED UPON THE APPELLANT'S INVOLUNTARY DEPORTATION)/APPEALS (CRIMINAL LAW, DIRECT APPEAL CANNOT BE DISMISSED BASED UPON THE APPELLANT'S INVOLUNTARY DEPORTATION)/DEPORTATION (CRIMINAL LAW, DIRECT APPEAL CANNOT BE DISMISSED BASED UPON THE APPELLANT'S INVOLUNTARY DEPORTATION)

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