From the Defense Table

Grand Juror’s Comment Leads To Murder Charge Dismissal

During the prosecution’s grand jury presentation for Murder in the Second Degree, a grand juror mentioned that the Defendant, Paul Barbaritano, “cut his girlfriend’s throat or something.” The prosecutor never thoroughly questioned this juror about his or her knowledge or bias, and even though the conversation happened in front of the other grand jurors, there was no inquiry about how this information prejudiced them. The County Court judge dismissed the indictment following defense counsel’s motion because the DA’s attempts were inadequate to dispel the apparent likelihood of prejudice to the defendant. But for the new discovery reform, defense counsel would not have seen the grand jury transcript until much, much later, and may not have ever had access to this early part of the transcript. — REBEKAH SOKOL, ESQ. Albany County Public Defender’s Office

Cellphone Argument Is No Ground For Police Inquiry

The Defendant, Gregory Stover, was sitting in his legally parked car in the private parking lot of a nightclub. Two officers noticed that he was speaking loudly on his cell phone, arguing with his girlfriend. They approached to “see if he was ok” and demanded his license, eventually placing him under arrest for Aggravated Unlicensed Operation in the Third Degree, conducting what they called an inventory search, and finding a gun in the car’s trunk. After losing a suppression hearing, the defendant pled guilty and appealed. The Third Department reasoned that a sole occupant of a vehicle arguing on the phone does not pose an immediate security threat and “gives rise to no apparent reason for the police to intervene”. The Court found that the police had no objective, credible reason to approach the car, and that the police further had no reason to extend the initial conversation by running Mr. Stover’s driver’s license. The Third Department suppressed all evidence, vacated the conviction and dismissed the charges. — REBEKAH SOKOL, ESQ Albany

County Public Defender’s Office

Beating The Plea Offer Is A Win

Some might say that when your client is convicted of Assault 3 after trial and is sentenced to almost 4 months in jail that this is a loss. But when your client is charged with Assault 1 and the DA is recommending 10 years on a top count plea, this is a win in every sense of the word. The Defendant was charged with Assault 1, 2 and 3 in Brooklyn Supreme Court for allegedly stabbing the complainant once in the chest causing serious internal injuries. He spent almost 4 months in jail before he was released following a bail reduction. Defendant testified convincingly as to how the complainant sustained the stab wound and that Defendant was not responsible. After complainant had sustained the stab wound, Defendant did proceed to assault the complainant, much of which was captured on security cameras. In summation, defense counsel attacked the People’s evidence on the Assault 1 and 2 counts and submitted that the Defendant was the much more credible witness. Strategically, defense counsel essentially conceded his client’s guilt of Assault 3. After the verdict, the Judge immediately sentenced Defendant to time served and scolded the DA’s Office for not having disposed of the case with a misdemeanor plea, something the client would have accepted pretrial. Truly, a satisfying “victory.” — DANIEL L. BIBB, ESQ, The Law Office of Daniel L. Bibb, LLC