People v. Hasson Denton, et al - These cases present the issue of whether the ameliorative portions of the recently enacted changes to the Rockefeller drug laws [Drug Reform Act-DRA] are to be retroactively applied to the defendants who have not been sentenced prior to the effective date of the new statute. The People, in a memorandum of law, request that the court renege on the sentence promises made to the repective defendants. The prosecution alleges that the recent sentence reductions made by DRA to the so-called Rockefeller drug laws do not apply retroactively to these defendants and thus the sentences promised by the court with the District Attorney's consent are illegal. The government urges the court to permit the defendants to withdraw their guilty pleas, or in the alternative, if the defendants do not wish to withdraw their guilty pleas to sentence the defendants in accordance with the law applicable at the time of the commission of the crimes. [continues 2976 words]
With the New Year comes an old appeal to the slow-moving politicians of Albany, where the state Legislature has been branded the "most dysfunctional in the nation" in a stinging report published last July by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. The appeal comes from attorneys and social activists concerned with what they call "draconian" terms of incarceration for more than 100,000 New Yorkers who over the past three decades years have been prosecuted under the nation's harshest criminal drug laws. [continues 1044 words]
ALBANY -- In the final analysis, fear of the electoral consequences of inaction led to this week's reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. That is the assessment of several players and observers on hand when both houses of the Legislature and Governor George E. Pataki, after years of standoff, finally came together on a drug law reform bill. In September, a generally unknown candidate for Albany County district attorney, David Soares, defeated an entrenched incumbent on a drug reform platform. Earlier this week, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, facing a re-election primary in which the Rockefeller Drug Laws figured to be a major issue, reached out to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and urged the Manhattan Democrat to sign on to a reform bill. [continues 954 words]
ALBANY -- A leading advocate for reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws yesterday urged the judiciary to play a more active role in lobbying for new narcotics statutes. John R. Dunne, a retired 12-term state senator, said the statewide organization of Supreme Court justices has been too silent for too long. He said the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court should step forward and not hide behind restrictions on judicial political activity to avoid taking a strong stance on the drug laws. [continues 1000 words]
The federal scheme for the drug testing of transportation employees does not pre-empt a state common-law cause of action brought for a false positive drug test, an Eastern District of New York judge has ruled. Judge Frederic Block, ruling on an issue that has divided some circuit courts, found that the pre-emption language of Federal Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act (OTETA) and rules passed to implement the act make clear that the federal government intended only to prevent state or local law from interfering with its drug testing regime. [continues 756 words]
A disabled woman facing eviction from subsidized housing because of her daughter's drug use deserves a hearing to determine if her landlord acted arbitrarily, a Manhattan judge has ruled. Civil Court Judge Michelle D. Schreiber last week questioned whether the landlord, Hampton House Inc., had simply felt pressured to seek an eviction after being asked to do so by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. When residents who receive federal housing subsidies, such as Section 8 funding, are arrested on drug charges, district attorneys regularly notify landlords and ask them to begin eviction proceedings. [continues 794 words]
ALBANY -- In an effort to break the logjam that has stymied hopes of Rockefeller Drug Law reform this legislative session, Governor Pataki yesterday unveiled a new compromise plan designed to put one of his major 2001 goals back on the front-burner. The latest proposal would give judges more discretion in diverting offenders to treatment, and would also partially drop a prior provision that would have given prosecutors a virtual veto over diversion. Although the new initiative is not nearly as revolutionary as many advocates would prefer, or even as broad as a reform package promoted by the Assembly Democrats, it is far more expansive than some opponents would like. [continues 1514 words]
A defendant may not have his sentenced enhanced because of his wife's failure to surrender alleged criminal proceeds that are the subject of a forfeiture action, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled. The appellate court reversed the decision of Southern District Judge John S. Martin, who had tacked 10 years onto the prison sentence of convicted pyramid scheme operator Patrick Bennett after the judge became convinced that Gwen Bennett was helping her husband hide assets. The court then remanded for resentencing in United States v. Bennett, 00-1330. [continues 735 words]
In a freewheeling discussion on New York's approach to the narcotics problem, panelists at a Committee for Modern Courts forum yesterday disagreed on whether the harsh Rockefeller Drug Laws have a role in the treatment based carrot-and-stick paradigm that seems to be developing. While participants unanimously agreed that major reforms are necessary, and generally agreed that the state needs some sort of a club to hold over the heads of non-violent drug offenders diverted to treatment programs, they disagreed over just how big that club should be. [continues 971 words]
TROY, N.Y. - Rejecting a defendant's claim of a pretextual stop in violation of the state constitution, an upstate judge has refused to suppress evidence seized from a man initially stopped because he did not have a bell on his bicycle, and subsequently charged with a narcotics felony after a police officer recognized the man as a suspected drug trafficker. Rensselaer County Judge Patrick J. McGrath, in The People of the State of New York v. Claude E. Varn, Indictment No. 98-1176, applied the primary motivation test which New York's courts have continued to rely upon, notwithstanding the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806 (1996). [continues 754 words]
In outlining the state court system's priorities at the start of the new millennium, Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye announced yesterday the appointment of a commission to examine how to better handle drug cases. Judge Kaye also said the court system's top priorities are gaining more flexibility in sentencing addicts and drug dealers and increasing the compensation rates for court-appointed counsel in criminal cases. She also spoke of a need to cast the courts and judges in "problem solving" roles, and simplify New York's trial courts by consolidating nine courts into two. [continues 447 words]
The Insulation of federal judges from political pressures was central to the arguments Friday as the Second Circuit considered District Judge Harold Baer's controversial 1996 decision to reverse himself on the suppression of evidence in the case of United States v. Bayless. Tracy W. Young, the appellate lawyer for Carol Bayless, said there was little question that the firestorm of criticism following Judge Baer's decision to suppress 80 pounds of cocaine following a Washington Heights arrest in 1995 undoubtedly led Judge Baer to reconsider his ruling, reopen the suppression hearing and allow the drugs as evidence. [continues 919 words]
ALBANY -- Applying a brake to the confiscation power of law enforcement officials, an upstate judge ruled Tuesday that the Columbia County district attorney had no authority to seize a truck driven by a drunk driver. Prosecutors were not seeking permanent forfeiture of the vehicle, but rather to retain it as potential evidence until criminal proceedings against the driver are completed. But Supreme Court Justice John G. Connor of Hudson found that the truck was not necessary evidence and that the seizure deprived the owner of property without due process. [continues 797 words]
ALBANY -- Governor Pataki yesterday proposed a pair of modest measures to soften the impact of the Rockefeller drug laws on some non-violent offenders in exchange for ending parole for all first-time felons and arming prosecutors with an array of new powers. "We think it is a fair, balanced approach," the Governor said as he outlined his criminal justice package at a capitol press conference. But sentencing reform advocates complained his plan does too little to redress "gross injustices" under the state's mandatory drug sentencing structure. And in dismantling the final pieces of the discretionary parole system, they warned that it will remove incentives for good behavior by inmates and place added pressure on the state's overcrowded prisons. [continues 1111 words]
ALBANY -- A quarter of a century after they helped to enact the Rockefeller drug laws, a group of former government leaders is proposing a new plan to reform the strict mandatory sentencing statutes they now view as an expensive failure. The plan, which former State Senator John R. Dunne said he will soon begin circulating among lawmakers, would give trial judges much greater discretion over sentencing and plea bargaining for nonviolent drug offenders. It stops short of repealing mandatory drug sentencing provisions of the Rockefeller drug laws or the Second Felony Offender Law, which many reformers have sought. But it goes much farther than bills proposed by Governor Pataki and Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye in giving trial court judges the authority "to tailor dispositions to the specific circumstances of each case," Mr. Dunne, who is of counsel to Whiteman Osterman & Hanna in Albany, said. [continues 810 words]
