People State New York v. Edwin Cortes

In each of these cases, more than two years elapsed between the filing of the initial indictment and the date the charges were dismissed because of the prosecutions failure to satisfy the readiness prescriptions of CPL 30.30. The People have appealed from the Appellate Division orders affirming these dismissals. Their appeals raise several novel issues, including the Peoples accountability for delays resulting from the failure of the County Law article 18-B Panel to promptly supply an attorney to represent defendant Cortes and for a delay that resulted from the dismissal of the original indictments on a ground that was subsequently proven erroneous. The Peoples appeals also raise questions concerning the excludability of certain periods of prearraignment delay, as well as other periods when the proceedings were postponed without defendants express consent. Having considered all of the parties arguments, we conclude that the Peoples time to prosecute both defendants under CPL 30.30 was exceeded and that, accordingly, the indictments were properly dismissed.