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Sworn Allegations About the Conduct of a Juror in Defendant’s Motion to Set Aside the Verdict Were Sufficient to Require a Hearing About Whether a Substantial Right Had Been Prejudiced

The Fourth Department determined defendant was entitled to a hearing on his motion to set aside the verdict:

The sworn allegations in defendant’s moving papers, i.e., that he learned after the verdict was rendered that a juror who had allegedly been “holding out” contacted defendant’s aunt between the first and second days of deliberation and discussed the likelihood of a guilty verdict when the jury reconvened the following morning, “required a hearing on the issue whether the juror’s alleged misconduct prejudiced a substantial right of defendant” … . People v Tucker, 2014 NY Slip Op 03415, 4th Dept 5-9-14

 

CPL 330.30 Motions Based Upon Matters Outside the Record Properly Denied/Although Not the Case Here, Such Motions Might Be Deemed Premature CPL 440.10 Motions and, As Such, Considered by the Trial Court/Concurring/Dissenting Opinions Disagreed About Whether the Persistent Felony Offender Statute, Which Allows the Judge to Exercise Discretion in Applying the Statute, Violates Apprendi v New Jersey (Requiring Facts Upon Which an Enhanced Sentence May Be Based to Be Decided by the Jury Under a Beyond a Reasonable Doubt Standard)

The Court of Appeals, in a brief memorandum decision, determined that motions to set aside the verdict (Criminal Procedure Law [CPL] 330.30) made in two the cases before the court were properly denied because they raised issues which were outside the record. The court further determined that the persistent felony offender statute (PFO) at issue in one of the cases was properly applied. The court noted that, in some situations, 330.30 motions might be deemed (premature) motions to vacate the conviction (CPL 440.10) and considered by the trial court in that context, but no attempt to invoke CPL 440.10 was made here.  Concurring and dissenting opinions dealt with whether the persistent felony offender statute (PFO) violated Apprendi v New Jersey, 530 US 466 (2000), because factual findings supporting an enhanced sentence are made by the judge, not the jury, and whether the motion to set aside the verdict on the ground that the courtroom was closed to the public for part of the trial should have been considered as a (premature) CPL 440.10 motion to set aside the conviction. People v Giles, 2014 NY Slip Op 08871, CtApp 12-18-14

 

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Motion to Set Aside a Verdict Properly Denied When Based Upon an Error Not Preserved by Objection

The Second Department noted that a motion to set aside a verdict (Criminal Procedure Law 330.30) is properly denied when it is based upon an error that was not preserved by objection.  (The issue could be addressed by the appellate court in the interest of justice, but the exercise of interest of justice jurisdiction was declined here.) People v Clayborne, 2014 NY Slip OP 08659, 2nd Dept 12-10-14

 

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Verdict May Not Be Set Aside Pursuant to Criminal Procedure Law 330.30 On a (Waivable) Ground Not Preserved by Objection at Trial

The Second Department determined Supreme Court should not have set aside the verdict pursuant to a CPL 330.30 motion on a ground which was not preserved by an objection.  Supreme Court set aside the assault second conviction on the ground that the indictment, which charged assault first, was improperly amended during trial to assault second.  Because the defendant did not object to the amendment, the issue could not be the basis for setting aside the verdict pursuant to CPL 330.30:

In considering a motion to set aside or modify a verdict pursuant to CPL 330.30(1), a trial court may only consider questions of law, not fact … . Moreover, a trial court may only consider claims of legal error under CPL 330.30(1) where those claims are properly preserved for appellate review … .

Contrary to the Supreme Court’s determination, the alleged amendment of the indictment was not a nonwaivable defect, and the defendant was required to make a timely objection at trial to preserve, for the Supreme Court’s consideration, a claim pursuant to CPL 330.30(1) that the indictment was impermissibly amended … . As the defendant failed to object at trial, he “waived” any challenge to the reduction of the count alleging assault in the first degree …, and the Supreme Court was without authority to set aside the verdict on that ground … . People v Davidson, 2014 NY Slip Op 08346, 2nd Dept 11-26-14

 

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Verdict Properly Set Aside Based Upon Trial Court’s Own Denial of Defendant’s Request for an Adjournment to Retain New Counsel/Criteria for Trial Court’s Setting Aside a Verdict Explained

The Fourth Department, after explaining the criteria for setting aside a verdict, ruled the trial court had properly set aside the verdict in this case due to the trial court’s own erroneous denial of defendant’s request for an adjournment to seek new counsel:

“Pursuant to CPL 330.30 (1), following the issuance of a verdict and before sentencing a court may set aside a verdict on ‘[a]ny ground appearing in the record which, if raised upon an appeal from a prospective judgment of conviction, would require a reversal or modification of the judgment as a matter of law by an appellate court’ ” … . “The power granted a Trial Judge is, thus, far more limited than that of an intermediate appellate court, which is authorized to determine not only questions of law but issues of fact . . . , to reverse or modify a judgment when the verdict is against the weight of the evidence . . . , and to reverse ‘[a]s a matter of discretion in the interest of justice’ ”… . * * *

In our view, the court’s refusal to grant defendant’s request for an adjournment was “an abuse of discretion as a matter of law” and effectively denied defendant the fundamental right to be represented by counsel of his own choosing …   On the date scheduled for suppression hearings, defense counsel, who had been retained by defendant’s family while defendant was incarcerated, withdrew defendant’s requests for suppression and sought an expedited trial without defendant’s knowledge or consent.  At the next court appearance, defendant requested an adjournment of the expedited trial to afford him time in which to retain another attorney.  The court, in denying that request, did not afford defendant “[a] reasonable time and a fair opportunity to secure counsel of his own choice”…, particularly in view of the fact that the trial was expedited without defendant’s knowledge or consent… .  Inasmuch as we conclude that defendant was denied the fundamental right to be represented by counsel of his own choosing, reversal of the judgment of conviction on that ground would be required as a matter of law upon an appeal therefrom (see CPL 330.30 [1]), and the court therefore properly set aside the verdict. People v Rohadfox, 1367, 4th Dept 2-7-14

 

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Motion to Set Aside Convictions Based On Newly Discovered Evidence Should Have Been Granted

The Fourth Department determined the trial court should have set aside defendant’s criminal contempt convictions pursuant to Criminal Procedure Law 330.30(3) based upon newly discovered evidence (phone records calling into question complainant’s trial testimony).  The Fourth Department wrote:

To set aside a verdict pursuant to CPL 330.30 (3), a defendant must prove that “there is newly discovered evidence (1) which will probably change the result if a new trial is granted; (2) which was discovered since the trial; (3) which could not have been discovered prior to trial; (4) which is material; (5) which is not cumulative; and, (6) which does not merely impeach or contradict the record evidence”….  People v Madison, KA 11-00313, 389, 4th Dept, 5-3-13

 

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