Buffalo judge dismisses case for speedy trial reasons

Listen to this article

Buffalo City Court Judge Rebecca L. Town dismissed the criminal charges for speedy trial reasons.

Defendant Keenon Fitzgerald filed a motion to invalidate the prosecution’s Certificate of Compliance.

Fitzgerald’s attorney, Dominique Tauffner, of the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo Inc., argued that the prosecution failed to certify all counts in the indictment, which rendered the preparation statement invalid under New York State criminal procedure law.

“The operative principle upon which this case rests is the people’s reliance on the obsolete doctrine of partial conversion,” Town wrote.

Before the law was changed in 2020, the partial conversion doctrine allowed the prosecutor to treat each charge as a separate entity so that the prosecutor could remain prepared on some counts, even if other counts charges contained flaws in the charging information.

This changed with the legislative reforms of 2020. Now this prosecution approach is no longer permitted.

“Instead, any valid interpretation of the CPL requires holistic certification on all points for a preparedness statement to be valid,” Town wrote.

“The law clearly places the onus on the prosecution to ensure compliance with this full certification requirement,” she wrote.

In People v. Ramirez-Correa (a 2021 New York City Criminal Court decision), the trial court wrote that “the prosecutor’s burden extends to proving the sufficiency of each count to maintain its statement of preparedness,” Town wrote.

“This case law aligns with the Legislature’s intent to repeal partial conversion, requiring prosecutorial rigor and adherence to procedural rigors,” Town wrote.

“The people’s reliance on the fossilized remains of the partial conversion doctrine to try to salvage their declaration of preparedness is nothing but a failed attempt to salvage a principle of law that the New York legislature already has, to paraphrase David Hume, put in the flames. ”, Town wrote.

“This Court finds that the People have failed to fulfill their statutory obligations…This Court will not entertain an attempt to recover an invalid and fatally defective Certificate of Compliance for the purposes of maintaining the readiness of the People,” wrote Town, who denied the accusations.

(email protected) / (585) 232-2035