Criminal Law & Procedure Flashcards

A defendant is arrested for a Class B felony in New York. According to CPL § 30.30, the 'ready rule,' within what period must the prosecution generally announce their readiness for trial, excluding any excludable time?

Answer: 6 months from the commencement of the criminal action.

Under New York's Criminal Procedure Law § 30.30, the prosecution must be ready for trial within six months of the commencement of a criminal action wherein a defendant is accused of one or more offenses, at least one of which is a felony. The other time periods listed apply to misdemeanors and violations, not felonies.

A person steals a brand new laptop with a fair market value of $2,500 from an electronics store in Manhattan. Which of the following is the highest degree of larceny the person can be charged with under the New York Penal Law?

Answer: Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree

Penal Law § 155.30(1) makes grand larceny in the fourth degree (a class E felony) the charge when the property value exceeds $1,000. Grand larceny in the third degree (§ 155.35) requires a value exceeding $3,000, grand larceny in the second degree (§ 155.40) exceeds $50,000, and petit larceny (§ 155.25) is the misdemeanor with no value threshold. At $2,500 the highest chargeable degree is the fourth degree.

An individual is in their apartment in Brooklyn when an intruder breaks in. The individual reasonably believes the intruder is about to use deadly physical force against them. Under New York Penal Law § 35.15 regarding the justification defense, what is the individual's duty before resorting to the use of deadly physical force?

Answer: No duty to retreat.

New York Penal Law § 35.15(2)(a)(i) establishes the 'castle doctrine,' which states that a person is under no duty to retreat if they are in their own dwelling and are not the initial aggressor. In any other location, a person has a duty to retreat before using deadly force if they know they can do so with complete personal safety. Because the individual is in their own dwelling, the duty to retreat is eliminated.

In a New York grand jury proceeding, what is the minimum number of jurors required to be present for the proceedings to be valid (a quorum), and what is the minimum number of jurors who must concur to vote for an indictment?

Answer: 16 present for a quorum; 12 to indict.

According to New York's Criminal Procedure Law § 190.25(1), the proceedings of a grand jury are not valid unless at least sixteen members are present, which constitutes a quorum. The same section states that the finding of an indictment requires the concurrence of at least twelve members.

Three individuals agree to commit a burglary. Two enter a home while the third, who is unarmed, acts as a lookout across the street. During the burglary, one of the individuals inside the home unexpectedly shoots and kills the homeowner. The lookout is later charged with felony murder. Which of the following facts, if proven by the lookout, would support an affirmative defense to the felony murder charge under Penal Law § 125.25(3)?

Answer: The lookout had no reasonable ground to believe any other participant was armed.

Under Penal Law § 125.25(3), it is an affirmative defense to felony murder if the defendant can prove, among other elements, that they had no reasonable ground to believe that any other participant was armed with a deadly weapon. Simply not entering the home is insufficient, as is a subjective lack of intent to kill (which is the point of the felony murder rule). Coercion might be a defense to the underlying burglary but is not part of the specific affirmative defense to felony murder.

A police officer lawfully stops a car for a traffic violation. The officer develops probable cause to believe the car contains evidence of a crime unrelated to the traffic stop. Under the 'automobile exception' to the warrant requirement as interpreted in New York, what is generally required for the officer to conduct a warrantless search of the vehicle?

Answer: Probable cause to search and a nexus between the arrest and the probable cause.

New York law is more protective than federal law regarding the automobile exception. In New York, for a warrantless search of a vehicle to be valid, police must have probable cause to believe the vehicle contains contraband or evidence of a crime, and there must be a nexus between the arrest and the probable cause to search. Probable cause alone, which is the federal standard, is not sufficient in New York.