Opinion ID: 2215717
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: People v Goss

Text: Defendant Goss was charged with first degree assault in a felony complaint filed with the Buffalo City Court on July 19, 1993. On January 14, 1994, an indictment charging defendant with second degree assault and third degree criminal possession of a weapon was filed in Erie County Court, and the People announced their readiness for trial. On that same date, the People sent the defendant a letter advising him of their readiness and that his arraignment date had been scheduled for January 24, 1994. The defendant failed to appear for the scheduled arraignment, and a warrant issued. Defendant was subsequently apprehended and arraigned on February 7, 1994. The People reiterated their readiness on both January 24 and February 7, 1994. Defendant then moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that CPL 30.30 had been violated. Relying on People v England (84 N.Y.2d 1, supra ), he argued that the People could not validly announce readiness until arraignment and that both the scheduled and actual arraignment dates were more than six months after the commencement of the criminal action. The People claimed no exclusions for this 184-day period. Rather, they distinguished England , arguing that there the prosecution did not declare ready until the last day of the statutory period, whereas here they had stated their readiness on January 14, 1994, five days before the expiration of the six-month period on January 19, 1994. Following a hearing, the trial court granted defendant's motion and dismissed the indictment, construing England to hold that the People cannot effectively announce readiness before the defendant has been arraigned. The Appellate Division affirmed, with two Justices dissenting. People v Avery, Gaymon and Cole On October 19, 1993, a felony complaint was filed in Buffalo City Court charging all three defendants with third and fifth degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and related offenses. The Erie County Grand Jury returned an indictment against the defendants charging defendants Gaymon and Cole with seventh degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and defendant Avery with various drug and weapon possession offenses. On April 14, 1994, the People filed this indictment in Erie County Supreme Court, declared readiness for trial and sent letters to each defendant informing them of their readiness and that arraignment had been scheduled for April 22, 1994. Defendants Avery and Cole were arraigned on the set date. Defendant Gaymon, however, did not appear and was arraigned on April 25, 1994. At each arraignment, the prosecutor noted that the People were ready to proceed. The defendants each moved to dismiss the indictment on statutory speedy trial grounds. They maintained that the People's readiness declaration on April 14, 1994 was ineffective because the defendants had not yet been arraigned and that the arraignment dates fell outside the statutory six-month period, which ended on April 19, 1994. Defendant Avery further alleged that it was the People's responsibility to schedule arraignment and that they had in fact set the April 22, 1994 arraignment date. The People responded to each motion by simply arguing that their statement of readiness on April 14, 1994 was valid, since it was made five days before the expiration of the statutory period and the defendants therefore could have been arraigned before the six months lapsed. The trial court granted the defendants' motions and dismissed the indictment in a single decision. Finding that it was the People's responsibility to arrange for the defendants' arraignment, it concluded that they should be charged with the period of delay between their statement of readiness and arraignment, citing England . The Appellate Division, with two dissenters, affirmed.