Opinion
11583 Index 3603/18 4342/18 153000/19
05-28-2020
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. U.S. SPECIALTY INSURANCE CO. INC. /AAA Bail Bonds, Surety- Appellant, Moses Olanibi, Defendant.
Law Office of Evans D. Prieston, P.C., Long Island City (Evans D. Prieston of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Robin A. McCabe of counsel), for respondent.
Law Office of Evans D. Prieston, P.C., Long Island City (Evans D. Prieston of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Robin A. McCabe of counsel), for respondent.
Renwick, J.P., Richter, Manzanet–Daniels, Singh, Moulton, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Ellen Biben, J.), entered on or about June 24, 2019, which denied the motion of Surety U.S. Specialty Insurance Co. Inc./AAA Bail Bonds for remission of a bail forfeiture in the amount of $250,000, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The court providently exercised its discretion in denying Surety's motion for remission of forfeited bail. The record shows that defendant failed to "render himself amenable to the orders ... of the criminal court" in which bail was posted ( CPL 540.10[1] ) when he assaulted the victim in violation of an order of protection issued by the court, causing "prejudice to the People" ( People v. Peerless Ins. Co., 21 A.D.2d 609, 613, 253 N.Y.S.2d 91 [1st Dept. 1964] ) by potentially deterring the victim from testifying in the underlying case (see e.g. People v. Torres, 112 Misc.2d 145, 153, 446 N.Y.S.2d 969 [Sup. Ct., N.Y. County 1981] ). Surety failed to establish "exceptional circumstances" warranting the relief sought ( Peerless Ins. Co., 21 A.D.2d at 613, 253 N.Y.S.2d 91 ).