New York

Published on: April 15, 2012

Court Rules on Robbery Case

by Stephen Bilkis

In cases that involve more than one victim, juries, and sometimes judges can become confused and issue verdicts that are not in accordance with the law or with good common sense. A case that was adjudicated in the Supreme Court of Nassau County on September 3, 1975 is one such case. The incident was fairly straight forward. This incident occurred on October 22, 1969 at a jewelry store that was owned and operated by one man.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said he frequently purchased items from other people and sometimes took in items on consignment. On the date of this incident, he had in his safe a diamond ring valued at $12,500 that he had taken in on consignment for another man. While he was in the shop that day, two men came in to the store to look at watches. They left without making a purchase. They had seen the owner go to the back of the store to retrieve a watch to show them from the safe. On his way back out to the front of the store, he failed to shut the safe or re-secure the dividing door that was usually locked between the front of the store and the office where the safe was located.

A while later, the two men returned to the store and produced a .45 caliber gun and ordered the owner to comply. A said the owner fought with the men and was struck on the head during the altercation with a hard object that he could not identify. He fell down near the panic button for his alarm. He pushed the alarm and passed out. When he came back to consciousness, he was handcuffed an in the back of the store. The attackers beat him again. He struggled to get free and he reached for the gun. Somehow the gun was fired and the jeweler was knocked unconscious again.

Published on: April 14, 2012

Defendant Claims Forum Shopping in Domestic Violence Case

by Stephen Bilkis

A man and a woman, never been married, have a 12 year old child. There have been 6 petitions previously filed between the parents, all in Rensselaer County Family Court (in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2 in 2011). Two were withdrawn, three were settled and one is pending.

The mother has filed a custody petition in Albany County Family Court. The father has filed a motion requesting that the matter be transferred to Rensselaer County Family Court on the grounds of inconvenient forum and forum shopping.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said that under the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR), a discretionary change of venue motion would be controlled by section 510(3) and granted where the convenience of material witnesses and the ends of justice will be promoted by the change. The section is, for all practical purposes, identical in meaning to Family Court Act §174, which requires that a change of venue by supported by good cause.

Published on: April 14, 2012

Domestic Violence Leads to Murder Case for Defendant

by Stephen Bilkis

A couple married in 1982. The husband was a surgical resident while the woman stayed home. Their marriage was marked by frequent fights and quarrels. Both of them argued and threatened each other.

A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said that one year after they were married, the wife called her cousin who was a divorce lawyer. Her voice was hoarse and she was speaking very rapidly. She told her cousin that she and her husband had an argument and that he assaulted her. She told him that he ended up strangling her until she lost consciousness. He advised her to move out of the house. She called to tell him later that she left their house and was staying at their grandfather’s house for a while. She also went to see her psychiatrist who stated that she noticed finger marks on the wife’s neck. They talked about what happened and she revealed that she was strangled and assaulted by her husband.

In 1984, the wife consulted a divorce lawyer. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said she had adulterous relationships with other men and wanted a divorce from her husband. In 1985, she told her friends and relatives that she was asking her husband for a divorce. She informed them that she was going to coerce him to grant her a divorce by threatening to reveal a letter sent to her by his psychiatrist. In this letter, the psychiatrist told the wife that during her sessions with her husband, he disclosed that he was entertaining thoughts of murdering her. The psychiatrist asked for the consent of the husband to disclose this fact to her.

Published on: April 14, 2012

Domestivc Violence Costs Correction Officer her Job

by Stephen Bilkis

A woman filed a petition to terminate the decision of the commissioner of the department of correction. The decision is to terminate her employment as a probationary correction officer and directing that she be reinstated with back-pay and benefits. After the trial on the issue, the court finds that the petition of the woman should be granted.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said the testimony and evidence introduced at the trial and revealed that the woman was employed by the department of correction as a probationary correction officer. When she was terminated as the result of a complaint made to the department of investigation by a person identifying himself as a parole officer. The officer indicated that he was the parole officer assigned to a former inmate. The former inmate is the woman’s former boyfriend, who has been a history of domestic violence incidents with the woman.

The individual claiming to be the officer made a previous complaint about the woman to department of investigation. The complaint alleged that while visiting the inmate, the officer noticed the woman’s uniform hanging in the inmate’s apartment. In response, the department of correction initiated an investigation concerning the woman’s undue familiarity with the inmate, and her failure to report that she was living with the inmate when she applied for a position as a correction officer.

Published on: April 14, 2012

Court Discusses Role of Counsel at Grand Jury Proceeding

by Stephen Bilkis

A man indicted for drug crimes such as cocaine possession with intent to sell, denied that he had sold cocaine, but testified to his crack possession of three vials for his own use. A police officer testified that he observed the accused man receive money from an unidentified woman and then drop a vial of crack cocaine, which the woman picked up from the ground. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the officer further testified that he arrested the accused man within five minutes, finding four dollars and crack possession.

The accused man testified that he received the vials from three guys whom he knew. When asked to name the three men, he inquired whether he could speak to his lawyer. He was permitted to do so and replied that the guys are not really involved in what he was accused of. A New York Criminal Lawyer said when the question was repeated, the accused man answered without further consulting his attorney. Presumably in an attempt to establish that the accused man’s cocaine possession with intent to sell, the assistant district attorney asked him how he obtained the money. The man testified that he received welfare, had saved some three hundred dollars while in a program of work release from State prison where he had been until three months beforehand, and also received money from his family. At one point in the accused man’s testimony, the assistant district attorney inquired whether the money he spent to go to movies was welfare money.

A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said the assistant district attorney reviewed the accused man’s prior criminal law violations that include four felony and seven misdemeanor convictions. In detail the convictions include four robberies, one invalid use of a credit card, a fare beat, a trespass, and criminal possession of controlled substances. The assistant district attorney repeatedly emphasized the robbery convictions. The assistant district attorney then asked the accused man to tell the grand jury what happened on the occasion of his arrest for marijuana possession. The accused man explained that he was arrested when he took a bag of marijuana out of his pocket to give to a friend whom he owed money. The assistant district attorney finally asked him to tell the grand jury what he had been arrested for on the occasion in 1990 when he pled guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Published on: April 13, 2012

Interesting Case Shows the Evolution of Divorce Law

by Stephen Bilkis

It is amazing just how much domestic law and divorce law has changed over the past 50 years. Prior to 1967, a married couple who wanted to get divorced could only obtain a divorce on the grounds of adultery. If neither spouse committed adultery, the courts of the state would not allow the couple to divorce. In 1967, New York legislature added the additional grounds for divorce under mental cruelty. Section 170 of the Domestic Relations law was amended to state that a divorce may be maintained by a husband or a wife if they were dissolving the marriage on the grounds that they were suffering cruel and inhuman treatment at the hands of the other spouse. A New York Criminal Lawyer said this treatment would have to be so egregious that the conduct endangered the physical or mental well-being of the abused party and made it unsafe or improper for the couple to live together. These were also the grounds for any kind of legal separation.

In 1970, a case came before the courts of New York that dealt with a petition for a divorce. The couple was married in New York in 1957. The husband was 28 years old and the wife was 37. She had a 15-year-old son by a previous marriage. The couple had a daughter, who was ten years old at the time of the trial. The pair had a volatile relationship by any standards with four separations and three reconciliations between 1961 and 1967. Throughout their relationship, they only testified to one act of domestic violence. This incident was the cause for the first separation. In 1961, the husband was in the kitchen of the home with some friends. The daughter began to cry, and the husband told her to be quiet. The wife came in to the kitchen and struck him. She then told him to get out of the house. The husband filed for divorce in 1970 claiming mental anguish. The courts determined that even under the changes in law in 1967 that would allow a divorce for cruel and inhuman treatment, the arguments that this pair had were not serious enough to meet the minimal qualifications to get a divorce. The court stated that the responsibility for managing their differences was not the responsibility of the courts.

Rather, the court pointed out that it was the responsibility of the two married people to learn to get along with each other without relying on the courts to step in and solve their problems. The exact term was that the courts of justice have no cure for the ills that these people bring upon themselves. They must minister unto themselves to solve their differences. This is in stark contrast to the customs of today. Now a couple can divorce for any reason. There are no such stipulations that must be met in order for a divorce to be petitioned. A couple may still obtain a divorce under this type of situation, even if the other party does not want to get a divorce. This change in the law was enacted to protect the victims of domestic violence. An uncontested divorce action is possible without any kind of violence, adultery, or other misdeed.

Published on: April 13, 2012

Court Decides Jurisdiction in Sex Crimes Case

by Stephen Bilkis

Court cases are rarely tried strictly on the facts of the case. In almost every case that comes to trial, the issues that cause a mistrial or cause a conviction usually come down to points of legality. Because trials are investigations into the application of statute upon a set of facts or circumstances, it is critical that a defendant is represented by an attorney. In the case of a domestic violence offense, it is even more important. Domestic violence laws change almost daily. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said it is imperative to the proper defense of a case that the legality of the statutes that are applied are reviewed and questioned.

In one particular case that was heard in the Supreme court, appellate Division, Second Department, New York, the justices were called upon to review a domestic violence case in which the defendant was charged with misdemeanor aggravated harassment in the second degree. He was charged with three counts. The case was initiated in Criminal Court, Kings County. By an order dated January 31, 2007, the action was removed from Criminal Court and transferred to the Domestic Violence Part of the Supreme Court in Kings County. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the misdemeanor complaint was converted to an information dated February 7, 2007. A bench trial convicted the defendant of three counts of attempted aggravated harassment in the second degree.

The defendant appealed his conviction. He claimed that the Supreme Court did not have jurisdiction over his case because he was never indicted by a grand jury. He argued that minus a formal indictment, there was no superior court information. He relied on CPL 210.05 to support his contentions.

Published on: April 13, 2012

Court Hears Divorce Case Based on Serious Domestic Violence Allegations

by Stephen Bilkis

The parties were both born in Albania. Plaintiff first moved to the United States on 14 December 1989, after receiving a green card through the American Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He became a United States citizen in 1997. Plaintiff lived and worked in the United States continuously from late 1989 until the date of the commencement of the herein divorce action, only returning to Albania for brief vacations over the years (approximately the first six years of the marriage). Plaintiff is 48 years of age and defendant is 36 years of age.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said the court is called upon to determine custody of five (5) minor children and whether defendant is entitled to a five (5) year stay away order of protection against plaintiff. The court has bifurcated the issues of custody, visitation and order of protection.

The matter was tried on an expedited basis given the seriousness of the allegations. Defendant-wife (hereinafter referred to as defendant) against plaintiff-husband (hereinafter referred to as plaintiff) was issued a temporary order of protection in Family Court, Kings County on 4 December 2007, the Family Court petitions were consolidated into the instant divorce action by order of this court dated 2 January 2008. The court has bifurcated the issues of custody and visitation and a final order of protection.

Published on: April 13, 2012

Court Discusses Integrated Domestic Violence Division

by Stephen Bilkis

In January 2004, the Chief Judge of a State promulgated the establishment of Integrated Domestic Violence (IDV) parts in Supreme Court. The rule directed that the specialized part be devoted to hearing and determination, in a single forum, of cases that are simultaneously pending in the courts if one of them is a domestic violence case in a criminal court and the other is a case in Supreme or Family Court that involves a party or witness in the domestic violence case; or if one is a case in criminal court, Family Court or Supreme Court and the other is a case in any other of these courts having a common party or in which a disposition may affect the interests of a party in the first case.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said the intent of the IDV directive was to allow matters involving a single family to be resolved in one court by the same jurist, thereby eliminating fragmented judicial adjudication and relieving the parties of the burden and costs of having multiple actions pending in different courts. In addition to streamlining the litigation process for litigants and providing better access to community services for families, the new IDV parts also increased judicial efficiency by avoiding duplication of effort by multiple courts, reducing scheduling conflicts and avoiding inconsistent outcomes.

Soon after the Chief Judge issued part of the IDV, the Chief Administrative Judge implemented the new rule by adopting part of the Rules of the Chief Administrator of the Courts, which defined those IDV-eligible cases subject to transfer to Supreme Court. A New York Criminal Lawyer said that under the rules, cases that meet the criteria are sent to an IDV part where, within five days, the cases are screened to determine whether transfer will promote the administration of justice. If so, a formal transfer order is issued and the case is retained by the IDV part for disposition. If not, the case is returned to the originating court.

Published on: April 12, 2012

Defendant Contends he is Eligible for Judicial Diversion Program

by Stephen Bilkis

A man was arrested during the execution of a search warrant in his reported residence. The search warrant was based in part upon an undercover police officer’s sworn allegations that on 13 separate occasions the man, while acting in concert with co-accused sold cocaine and heroin. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the accusation charges the man and his companion, with felony conspiracy for cocaine and heroin and conspiring to commit Criminal Sale of Controlled Substance.

The Criminal Procedure Law defines those accused persons who are eligible for Judicial Diversion as ones charged with certain Class B, C, D, and E felony drug offenses, or those charged with specified nonviolent offenses as long as they do not have a disqualifying condition listed in the law. If the District Attorney consents, a non-eligible accused will be deemed eligible. The list of eligible crimes is specific and does not include every nonviolent felony.

Robbery in the Third Degree and felony DWI, both nonviolent offenses, are not specified eligible crimes. Disqualifying conditions include convictions within the past ten years for felony or a violent felony; those who have a prior second violent felony or persistent felony offender adjudication; and those who are presently charged with certain violent felony offenses. Prior adjudications for disqualifying crimes may also be considered by the court in determining eligibility.