Articles Posted in Domestic Violence

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2009 NY Slip Op 50408(U)

SABRINA F., Petitioner,

2011 NY Slip Op 21015

The People of the State of New York

v.

The PEOPLE of the State of New York

v.

Ronald NIVAR, Defendant.

8 A.D.2d 978

Newsday, Inc., Respondent,

v.

29 A.D.3d 1013

816 N.Y.S.2d 539

2006 NY Slip Op 04300

The defendant moves to set aside the verdict of guilty rendered herein and requests that this court order a new trial pursuant to CPL §§ 330.30, 330.40 and 330.50. The People oppose this motion.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

This case arose out of an incident on April 13, 2005 at about 7:15pm at 153-32 119th Road in Jamaica, Queens. The complainant allegedly observed the defendant smash the rear window of his car. When the complainant attempted to apprehend the defendant, the defendant slashed the complainant’s left check with what appeared to be a shiny knife or a box cutter causing a laceration requiring 32 stitches to close. The defendant fled the scene but was subsequently arrested.

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A Kings Family Lawyer said that, this case grows out of a quarrel over an automobile between the defendant and his estranged former lover. Defendant and his former lover lived together for a time, and they remained on friendly terms even after they took up separate residences. They decided to buy a car. The defendant made the initial down payment for the car of about $6,000. Legal title to the car was placed in the name of the complainant and of her father (who graciously agreed to cosign for the car loan).

For several months defendant and his former lover shared the car amiably and without incident. Then defendant Brown fell behind in making payments on the car, and the quarrel over the car began to develop. Things got so bad that one night, several months before the incident in question, the complainant defendant’s former lover traveled from her home in the Bronx to defendant’s neighborhood in Brooklyn and simply took the car off the street, without any notice to the defendant. Thereafter she kept the car herself.

A Kings Domestic Violence Lawyer said that, on the day in question, October 18, 1998, relations between defendant and his former lover were apparently somewhat friendlier. She drove defendant from Brooklyn to the Bronx. But the Criminal defendant and his former lover began to argue again while standing on the sidewalk in the Bronx. The argument touched upon many sore topics, including the car. After several minutes of quarreling, defendant got into the driver’s seat of the car and prepared to drive away. Complainant jumped into the car’s back seat and continued the argument. Defendant began to drive with his former lover/complainant in the back seat. They proceeded for several blocks. Finally, in a fit of anger, defendant Brown declared “If I can’t have the car, then no one can” and wrecked the car by deliberately driving it into a light pole. Defendant quickly fled the scene, but was ultimately arrested and now stands charged with attempted unauthorized use of a vehicle in the third degree (in violation of Penal Law §§ 110.00, 165.05 [1]) and attempted criminal mischief in the fourth degree (Penal Law §§ 110.00, 145.00 [1]). The car (which was not insured) requires very expensive repairs. Neither the defendant nor complainant has been willing or able to pay for those repairs. Thus complainant’s father a decent, hard-working man whose only mistake was to trust his daughter and her friend Mr. Brown to act responsibly has been saddled with making monthly payments for a wrecked and useless car since September 1998.

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A Kings Order of Protection Lawyer said that, defendant moves to dismiss counts 1 through 10 and 24 through 27 of the indictment on the ground that each count is duplicitous because each count charges multiple acts in violation of multiple court orders. In deciding the motion, the court has considered the moving papers, the People’s opposition, the court’s letter dated June 29, 1998, the Grand Jury minutes, and the indictment.

A Kings Criminal Lawyer said that, defendant has been indicted for various crimes involving different acts prohibited by “a” court order of protection. Most of the counts at issue in this motion allege a violation of a single order of protection effective from December 26, 1996 until March 12, 2000. In fact, the Grand Jury minutes reflect the issuance of three separate orders of protection.

The issue in this case is whether defendant’s motion to to dismiss counts 1 through 10 and 24 through 27 of the indictment on the ground that each count is duplicitous because each count charges multiple acts in violation of multiple court orders.

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A man is charged with a criminal contempt in the second degree and harassment in the second degree for conduct. It is alleged that such conduct was in violation of an order of protection issued by the Supreme Court over the matrimonial action between the man and his wife, the complaining witness.

The man then moved to dismiss the accusatory document based on the order of the Supreme Court over the matrimonial action asserting to transfer and merge the criminal action.

The man alleges that the Supreme Court is a court of unlimited and illimitable jurisdiction, empowering it to remove the instant criminal action from the court and merge it into the civil matrimonial action. But, the man’s argument fails in several respects. First, contrary to the man’s contention, the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over the criminal action. Second, even assuming the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court over the action, no mechanism exists to allow the alleged transfer to the Supreme Court.

The defendant’s written a Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) application to set aside one count of the jury trial verdict which convicted him of criminal mischief was granted by the County Court, over the written and oral opposition, on the record in open court. The written decision expounds in greater detail upon the County Court’s determination of the defendant’s motion, which appears to raise an issue of first impression.

The novel issue in this case is whether the evidence adduced at trial was legally sufficient to establish the necessary elements of criminal mischief. The statute requires that the defendant intentionally disable or remove the telephonic equipment while the complaining witness was attempting to call 911, in an effort to seek emergency assistance from the police during an alleged domestic violence assault upon her. The trial evidence did not satisfy this statute.

The Prosecutor’s Information in this case accused the defendant of assaulting his former girlfriend in the presence of their three children. The trial testimony established that during the assault the victim attempted to call 911 for police assistance (using a land-line telephone) and she made a very brief initial contact, but was then immediately thwarted by the defendant, who bound the victim’s wrists with the telephone cord and then slammed the telephone on the victim’s hands/fingers as she tried again to dial 911. At some point, however, during the incident the abused victim was able to complete a 911 call using the same telephone.