76 N.Y.2d 59 (1990)

A delay in producing Grand Jury minutes necessary for a court to decide a defendant’s pretrial motion constitutes a direct impediment to the commencement of trial and impacts the People’s readiness under CPL 30.30.

Summary

Defendant was convicted of assault. The People declared readiness but then delayed producing Grand Jury minutes needed for the defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment based on evidentiary insufficiency. The Court of Appeals held that the People’s five-month delay in producing the minutes, after declaring readiness, was chargeable to the People under CPL 30.30. Because the delay directly impeded the trial’s commencement, it negated the People’s claim of readiness. The Court rejected arguments that the defendant should have withdrawn his motion or sought other remedies. The conviction was reversed, and the indictment dismissed.

Facts

Defendant was charged with felony assault. The accusatory instrument was filed on March 17, 1985. The People declared their readiness for trial on June 26, 1985. On August 1, 1985, the defendant moved to dismiss the indictment for evidentiary insufficiency (CPL 210.30). The People filed a written response but did not provide the Grand Jury minutes needed for the court to decide the motion. The Grand Jury minutes were transcribed and delivered to the District Attorney’s file room on June 25, 1985, but were not retrieved until December 2, 1985, and not delivered to the court until January 3, 1986.

Procedural History

The trial court denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss based on CPL 30.30, finding the People’s ability to proceed to trial was unaffected by the delay. The defendant was convicted of the charged counts. The Appellate Division affirmed the conviction. The New York Court of Appeals reversed, dismissing the indictment.

Issue(s)

Whether the People’s failure to produce Grand Jury minutes necessary for a court to decide a defendant’s pretrial motion to dismiss the indictment, within the statutory speedy trial period, constitutes a delay chargeable to the People under CPL 30.30.

Holding

Yes, because the delay in producing the Grand Jury minutes directly impeded the trial’s commencement and therefore impacted the People’s readiness under CPL 30.30.

Court’s Reasoning

The Court of Appeals reasoned that CPL 30.30 requires the People to be ready for trial within six months of the commencement of a criminal action involving a felony. The court distinguished this case from People v. Anderson, where delays in producing Rosario material did not impact the People’s readiness. Here, the People’s failure to provide Grand Jury minutes was a “direct, and virtually insurmountable, impediment to the trial’s very commencement.” The court stated that “the People can hardly claim to be ‘ready’ when they have not done all that is required of them to bring the case to the point where it may be tried.” The Court rejected the People’s argument that the defendant could have withdrawn his motion or sought other remedies, stating that a defendant’s right to a speedy trial cannot be conditioned on waiving the right to test the sufficiency of the evidence before the Grand Jury. Furthermore, the Court stated that the readiness should be evaluated from the perspective of the preparedness to present their own case. The court found that the defendant’s presence is a constitutionally and statutorily mandated condition precedent to the commencement of trial. The court concluded that the five-month delay, when added to other chargeable delays, exceeded the statutory limit, requiring dismissal of the indictment. The court stated, “First, there must be a communication of readiness by the People which appears on the trial court’s record. * * * [Second,] the prosecutor must make his statement of readiness when the People are in fact ready to proceed.”