Opinion ID: 2036115
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: People v Jones

Text: In 1987, defendant Anthony Jones was charged with burglary in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, robbery in the second degree, robbery in the third degree and assault in the second degree. Defendant was alleged to have followed the victim into her apartment, locked the door and demanded that she give him money. When she refused, he punched her in the face, grabbed her purse and took money from it. Defendant, who remained at liberty up until his trial date, absconded during jury selection, notwithstanding the fact that Supreme Court had admonished defendant that he would be tried and sentenced in absentia in the event he did not appear for trial. Supreme Court issued a bench warrant and, after conducting a Parker hearing, allowed the trial to go forward without defendant. A jury found defendant guilty of, among other things, burglary in the second degree and robbery in the third degree, and he was sentenced in absentia to concurrent prison terms of 7 to 14 years on each count. Defense counsel filed a timely notice of appeal. Seventeen years later, in October 2005, defendant was arrested on a bench warrant and returned to the jurisdiction of the court. In April 2006, he was resentenced to 3 to 6 years on the robbery count because the previously imposed 7 to 14 year sentence was illegal. Defendant thereafter moved at the Appellate Division for poor person relief and, on May 9, 2006, filed a notice of appeal from the judgment on resentencing. The People opposed defendant's motion for poor person relief to the extent it sought relief relating to the appeal from the August 1, 1988 judgment of conviction, and cross-moved to dismiss the appeal from that judgment, contending that the May 9, 2006 notice of appeal should be construed as being an appeal from the April 2006 judgment on resentencing only. The People further argued that it had been nearly 18 years since the August 1988 notice of appeal had been filed and that defendant had neither perfected his appeal nor requested an extension of time to do so. Moreover, according to the People, defendant was not entitled to have his appeal heard because he disregarded the laws and courts of this State by absconding. The Appellate Division granted defendant's motion for assignment of appellate counsel, but then granted the People's motion dismissing defendant's appeal of the August 1988 conviction.