Opinion ID: 2481385
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: People v Correa; People v Mack

Text: In October 2005, defendant Edgar Correa was charged in a misdemeanor information filed in New York City Criminal Court, Bronx County, with various class A misdemeanors and harassment in the second degree, a violation, resulting from an altercation with his wife. After arraignment, his case was transferred to the BCD and a nonjury trial was conducted. Correa was acquitted of the misdemeanor offenses but convicted of the harassment charge and sentenced to 15 days in jail. Defendant Allen Mack was charged in an information with the misdemeanor offenses of obstructing governmental administration and assault in the third degree, as well as one count of harassment in the second degree, a violation, as a result of disruptive behavior during a parole hearing. Following his arraignment in New York City Criminal Court, Bronx County, Mack's case was transferred to the BCD for a nonjury trial in August 2006. He was convicted of attempted assault in the third degree and harassment for which he received 90-day and 15-day jail sentences, respectively. Both Correa and Mack appealed and, in their initial briefs, neither defendant protested that his trial had been conducted in the BCD part of Supreme Court. However, in February 2009, the Appellate Division, First Department, sua sponte requested that the attorneys in each case brief two additional issues: (1) Whether the establishment of the Criminal Division of Supreme Court in Bronx County under Part 142 of the Rules of the Chief Administrator is consistent with the Constitution and statutes of the State of New York? (2) Whether the Supreme Court possessed jurisdiction over a criminal case absent the filing of an indictment or superior court information? In response to the inquiry, defense counsel filed supplemental briefs asserting that Unified Court System (UCS) administrators exceeded the authority granted them under the Constitution and relevant statutes when they issued the BCD directives and that Supreme Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to try misdemeanor offenses prosecuted on an information. Relying on CPL 210.05, defendants contended that Supreme Court has the power to adjudicate misdemeanor offenses only when the grand jury has included them in an indictment or a defendant has waived indictment and agreed to be prosecuted by a superior court information (SCI). The People countered that various provisions of the Constitution and the Judiciary Law expressly allowed UCS administrators to issue the rules relating to transfer of misdemeanor cases to the BCD part and, as an arm of Supreme Court, the BCD possessed the requisite jurisdiction to try defendants' unindicted misdemeanor cases. In February 2010, in a divided opinion, the First Department reversed the conviction in Correa and dismissed the accusatory instrument, crediting defendant's jurisdictional arguments ( People v Correa, 70 AD3d 532 [2010]). In his dissent, Justice Acosta disagreed with the majority, finding ample constitutional and statutory basis for the issuance of the BCD directives and concluding that, as a court of general, concurrent jurisdiction, Supreme Court is empowered to adjudicate misdemeanor cases, regardless of whether the charge is contained in an information, an indictment or an SCI. In a separate decision, the First Department reversed Mack's conviction and dismissed the misdemeanor information, citing the decision in Correa ( People v Mack , 70 AD3d 555 [2010]). In each case, Justice Acosta granted the People leave to appeal.