The New York Court of Appeals vacated a defendant’s conviction and ordered a new trial in People v. Dunbar. They ruled that the statements made by the defendant should have been suppressed because the pre-Miranda statements by the Queens District Attorney’s Office to...
Month: October 2014
“Defense” of Intoxication
Suppose a person goes out for a night of heavy drinking. After the 10 or 11th shot, he blacks out. He then wakes up the next morning in a jail cell. He has absolutely no idea where he is or what is going on. He is then informed by a police officer that he punched a...
Entrapment!
Everybody seems to have at least some understanding of entrapment. From a common layperson’s perspective, the idea usually comes up in the context of a situation where an under cover cop pretends to buy or sell an illegal product or service and then arrests the other...
Accomplice Corroboration Requirement in New York
Using the testimony of a person who “has turned state’s evidence” is a common and effective tool used by prosecutors throughout the United States. There are many different circumstances in which a prosecutor’s office would want to do this. An example would be a...
Gravity Knives in New York
Under New York law, a person who possessed a gravity knife can go to jail for up to one year. If that same person has previously been convicted of a crime, then the possession of the knife is a felony offense and depending on what kind of crime he’s been convicted of...