AD4: Leftovers (January 2006 term)

Here are the rest of the noteworthy decisions from the Fourth Department's January, 2006 term, in no particular order:

People v Dye, __ AD3d __ [available here]: in rape prosecution where the victim was a 12-year-old relative of defendant, "County Court did not commit reversible error in allowing the victim to testify that defendant's nickname was 'Bo Peep'."

People v Roberts, __ AD3d __ [available here]: Court declines to exercise its interest of justice jurisdiction to reach defendant's argument "that the verdict is repugnant insofar as the jury found him guilty of attempted murder but not guilty of assault in the first degree [...]."

People v Dandridge, __ AD3d __ [available here]: defendant did not object to trial court's failure to read the correct robbery jury charge, and the Court declines to hold the error implicated "the organization of the court or the mode of proceedings" and further declines to reach the issue in the interest of justice.

People v Rossi, __ AD3d __ [available here]: "The promise of the officer to 'put in a good word' to the judge does not render defendant's statement involuntary because the promise 'did not create a substantial risk that the defendant might falsely incriminate himself.'"

People v Wurthmann, __ AD3d __ [available here]: "Contrary to defendant's contention, neither the interrogating officer's false statement to defendant that his fiancee was upset by his polygraph results nor the officer's promise to take defendant to see his fiancee after he told the officer what happened was 'so fundamentally unfair as to deny due process' or likely to induce a false confession."

People v Jefferson, __ AD3d __ [available here]: "Defendant failed to preserve for our review his contention that the admission of the [911 tape] violated his right to cross-examine and confront a witness against him, and we decline to exercise our power to review that contention as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice."

People v Shank, __ AD3d __ [available here]: defendant's conviction for operation of a motor vehicle on a public highway while drink an alcoholic beverage not supported by legally sufficient evidence where "the officer testified that he observed an empty beer bottle in defendant's vehicle . . . there was no evidence that the bottle contained alcohol, nor was there evidence that defendant was drinking from the bottle while in the vehicle 'located upon [a] public highway [].'"

People v Carlton, __ AD3d __ [available here]: "[T]he summary denial of those parts of [defendant's] motion seeking suppression of the pistol and bullets and the items seized from his locker at work cannot be sustained . . . a suppression hearing is required to determine the disputed issue of whether the pistol and bullets were seized in plain view as part of the lawful search of defendant's premises . . . [and] a hearing is required to determine the further disputed issue of whether defendant consented to the search of that locker."

And the heartwarming decision of the month (as previously noted by Sui Generis here):

People v William S., __ AD3d __ [available here]: "Defendant was 16 years old at the time of the assault and had no prior criminal record. In addition, it appears from the record that the assault was precipitated by some racial name-calling by the victims and that defendant's older sisters were the primary perpetrators of the assault. We conclude that despite a difficult upbringing, defendant has the potential to lead a law-abiding life, and we deem it appropriate to modify the judgment as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice by adjudicating defendant a youthful offender." Kudos to the Court for taking a flyer on this kid.