People v. Jones

187 A.D.3d 934

130 N.Y.S.3d 736 (Mem)

The PEOPLE, etc., respondent,

v.Dency JONES, appellant.

2019–00384

Ind. No. 1500/18

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Submitted - June 8, 2020

October 14, 2020

Paul Skip Laisure, New York, NY (William Kastin of counsel), for appellant.

Melinda Katz, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, NY (Johnnette Traill, Nancy Fitzpatrick Talcott, and Mariana Zelig of counsel), for respondent.

MARK C. DILLON, J.P., JOHN M. LEVENTHAL, JEFFREY A. COHEN, SYLVIA O. HINDS–RADIX, JJ.

DECISION & ORDER

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Barry Kron, J.), rendered December 12, 2018, convicting him of robbery in the first degree, upon his plea of guilty, and imposing sentence.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

In April 2015, several men committed a robbery at a store in Queens while wearing ski masks and gloves and brandishing guns. In addition to stealing money and merchandise from the store, the perpetrators took three store employees and one customer to a back room, forced them to lie face down on the floor, and directed them to empty their pockets.

In September 2015, the defendant was convicted of robbery in the second degree in connection with an unrelated robbery and sentenced to a determinate term of imprisonment of 3½ years. As required by his sentence, the defendant submitted a sample of DNA for inclusion in the New York State DNA Databank. In November 2015, it was discovered that the defendant's DNA was a match to a DNA sample recovered from the April 2015 robbery. In June 2018, after the defendant was released from prison on the unrelated robbery conviction, he was arrested for the April 2015 robbery and indicted in July 2018. In an omnibus motion, the defendant moved, inter alia, to dismiss the indictment on the ground that his due process rights to prompt prosecution and a speedy trial were violated by the prosecution's 31–month delay between discovering the DNA evidence linking him to the April 2015 robbery and his arrest. The Supreme Court denied that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion. The defendant thereafter pleaded guilty to robbery in the first degree and was sentenced.

"The right to ‘prompt prosecution’ is equated with the constitutional right to a speedy trial" ( People v. Miller, 83 A.D.3d 1097, 1097–1098, 922 N.Y.S.2d 149, quoting People v. Decker, 13 N.Y.3d 12, 15, 884 N.Y.S.2d 662, 912 N.E.2d 1041 ). "The following factors should be examined in balancing the merits of an assertion that there has been a denial of defendant's right to a speedy trial: (1) the extent of the delay; (2) the reason for...