Opinion
14070316
06-20-2015
The People of the State of New York, Plaintiff, vs. v. Casey A. Podsadowski, Defendant.
APPEARANCE OF COUNSEL MICHAEL J. VIOLANTE, NIAGARA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, BY MEGHAN L. DOBSON, FOR THE PEOPLE ANN M. NICHOLS, FOR THE DEFENDANT
APPEARANCE OF COUNSEL
MICHAEL J. VIOLANTE, NIAGARA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY,
BY MEGHAN L. DOBSON, FOR THE PEOPLE
ANN M. NICHOLS, FOR THE DEFENDANT
Leonard G. Tilney Jr., J.
HISTORY OF CASE
Defendant was arraigned by this Court on July 22, 2014 on various Penal Law and Vehicle and Traffic charges. Defense Counsel appeared August 14, 2014 and the People requested a pretrial to speak with witnesses. The matter was set down for status October 2, 2014 and an additional pretrial was scheduled for October 23, 2014 at which time the Defendant rejected a plea offer and requested a non-jury trial. Because of an anticipatory maternity leave of Defense Counsel, the parties agreed to schedule the trial February 12, 2015. On that date the People requested an adjournment citing law office failure to notify a witness. As is the custom of this Court either side is generally granted one adjournment with the proviso that the Criminal Procedure clock (C.P.L. §30.30) was running. A new trial date was scheduled for April 13, 2015. The People were not ready again, indicating one of their witnesses was incarcerated in Erie County, a fact found out only a week before, and they did not have enough time to request and receive from a Superior Court a transport Order. A second adjournment was requested by the People which was denied by the Court and the case was placed on our reserve calendar pursuant to People vs. Douglass, 60 NY2d 194, with a control date of May 12, 2015 for dismissal pursuant to C.P.L. §30.30. In the interim, the People move to restore this case to the Court's regular calendar.
POSITION OF PARTIES
The People posit that their key witness, Anthony Galante, who did not appear February 12, 2015, had been attempted to be served with a subpoena, prior to the trial date, but that was unsuccessful as his address was stale. On April 8, 2015 the People were advised that Galante was being held at Erie County Correctional Facility. The People assert they did not have time between April 8, 2015 and April 13, 2015 to obtain a writ to transfer Galante to this Court for trial. This is the basis asserted by the People for "good cause" to restore this case to the Court's regular calendar.
The Defendant strenuously opposes the People's motion to restore citing that they were unable to have this key witness present on two occasions for trial. Those past two occasions the Defendant was present with his counsel, prepared and ready for trial. Defendant correctly asserts the People did not declare their readiness for trial nor could they without Mr. Galante present or at the very least available. The People have not shown a writ was requested, nor an inability to have the Niagara County Sheriff execute the same. The Defendant requests a dismissal or, in the alternative, leave to submit a motion for C.P.L. §30.30 dismissal.
DECISION
The Court cannot grant the cross motion of the Defendant to dismiss for failure to prosecute for the very reasons the Douglass Court states, that is, the New York State legislature under C.P.L. §170.30 has not given this Court the authority to do so. The Court will not grant a dismissal pursuant to C.P.L. §30.30 because, although that time expired May 12, 2015, the People did file their motion to restore April 22, 2015, with the Defendant responding papers filed May 28, 2015. This Court's time to decide the issues effectively stopped the C.P.L. §30.30 clock. The true question to be answered here is "have the People established good cause to remove this case from the reserve calendar?"
"Good cause" has been defined as "a legally sufficient reason." (Black's Law Dictionary Ninth Edition). Our Appellate Courts do not help with further defining that term other than using it to say the party asserting it has met or not met their burden to establish it. (See People v Blackwell ___ N.Y.S. 3d ___, 2015 W.L. 3796470, 4th Dept, decided June 19, 2015). Here the People attempted to subpoena Galante to no avail. It was not until his mother advised them he was incarcerated, did they react. The issue was then was did the People have enough time to secure a writ from a Superior Court and execute the same.
This Court takes judicial notice of its own previous requests to have a Superior Court issue writs to have prisoners transported from neighboring County jails or holding centers to this Court and the time and effort involved therein. The Court also takes judicial notice of the April 2015 United States calendar wherein April 8, 2015 was a Wednesday and April 13, 2015 was a Monday. Thus, the People had less than three (3) days to obtain the necessary writ because of the intervening weekend. The Court therefore finds good cause for the People's inability to proceed to trial. A further pretrial date is scheduled for July 9, 2015 to set a day certain for trial in this matter.
Dated: June 20, 2015___________________________Hon. Leonard G. Tilney, Jr. Lockport Town Justice