Court Opinion

ID: 9877828
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-27 16:24:59.486633+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:47:27.810074
License: Public Domain

Rose, J.
(dissenting). I cannot agree that defendant properly preserved his present claim that County Court should have discharged the relevant juror for cause pursuant to CPL 270.15 and, therefore, I respectfully dissent. It is well settled that, “[t]o preserve an issue for review, counsel must register an objection and apprise the court of grounds upon which the objection is based ‘at the time’ of the allegedly erroneous ruling ‘or at any subsequent time when the court had an opportunity of effectively changing the same’ ” (People v Cantave, 21 NY3d 374, 378 [2013], quoting CPL 470.05 [2]; accord People v Jackson, 29 NY3d 18, 22 [2017]). “The salutary goal of this well-established preservation requirement is to avoid the need for an appeal and ‘provide the opportunity for cure before a verdict *1039is reached and a cure is no longer possible’ ” (People v Jackson, 29 NY3d at 22, quoting People v Gray, 86 NY2d 10, 20-21 [1995]; see People v Michael, 48 NY2d 1, 6 [1979]). Less than strict adherence to the preservation requirement “would serve as an invitation to delay and could result in an unmanageable morass of collateral proceedings within each prosecution” (People v Michael, 48 NY2d at 6).
Here, when the juror notified County Court of her law firm’s representation of Christina Powell’s parents in a custody proceeding against defendant, she had been sworn as a trial juror. County Court advised the parties that it would defer to their judgment regarding how to handle the issue, and defense counsel indicated that he was going to give the issue some thought. After the full jury had been sworn, but before opening statements on the first day of trial, County Court asked defense counsel how he would like to proceed. Only then did counsel indicate that he was making a motion to excuse the juror based upon her law firm’s representation of Powell’s parents. Counsel did not mention that his challenge was for cause, nor did he specify the statutory standard that he wished the court to apply. The People opposed the motion, stating that the “grounds for disqualifying a sworn juror [are] that the juror has to be grossly unqualified and [we] don’t think that the information that we have at this point rises anywhere near that level.” County Court reserved on defendant’s motion and, with defendant’s consent, conducted an inquiry of the juror.
During the inquiry, both County Court and defense counsel posed several questions to the juror, focusing on whether her ability to objectively and fairly view the evidence and render a decision would be impacted by the fact that an acquittal would have the potential of negatively affecting the custody case of Powell’s parents. After the juror told counsel that any potential issues for her law firm would have no impact on her decision-making ability and would not affect her, counsel replied that he “accepted] that.” When County Court then asked counsel if he had “[a]nything in light of” the juror’s answers, counsel responded, “No. Thank you.” In my view, counsel’s responses establish that he explicitly accepted the juror’s assurances of impartiality. Although counsel was afforded ample opportunity to fully apprise County Court of the grounds for his motion, he failed to argue — as defendant does now on appeal — that the challenge to the sworn juror was one for cause pursuant to CPL 270.15 (4) and not pursuant to the “grossly unqualified” standard of CPL 270.35 (1) (compare CPL 270.15 [4], with CPL 270.35 [1]). Instead, counsel said nothing further about the is*1040sue, thus making it entirely reasonable for County Court to believe that the issue had been resolved. As a result, the court did not discharge the juror and the trial commenced.
It was not until after the close of proof that counsel requested an express ruling from County Court regarding his motion to excuse the juror. Again, however, counsel did not specify the statutory standard that he sought to have County Court apply, despite the opportunity to do so. For their part, the People opposed the application, arguing again that the juror was not grossly unqualified because she had indicated that her law firm’s representation of Powell’s parents would have no impact on her state of mind (see generally People v Buford, 69 NY2d 290, 298 [1987]). County Court agreed with the People and denied defendant’s application.
Based upon the foregoing, I would find that the failure of defense counsel to articulate that his motion to excuse the sworn juror was a for-cause challenge grounded upon CPL 270.15 (4), his silence in the face of the People’s assertions that the applicable standard was “grossly unqualified” pursuant to CPL 270.35 (1) and his stated acceptance of the juror’s answers during the inquiry, when taken together, did not sufficiently apprise County Court of the grounds upon which defendant’s present claim is based, thereby failing to properly preserve the claim for appellate review (see People v Wells, 15 NY3d 927, 928 [2010], cert denied 565 US 828 [2011]). In my view, to hold otherwise would diminish the requirement that all “objections be raised at a time when they can be dealt with most readily” and, thus, defeat the purpose behind the preservation requirement (People v Michael, 48 NY2d at 6). Although we have the discretionary power to take corrective action in the interest of justice (see CPL 470.15 [6] [a]), I would decline to exercise that discretion here given that a review of the full record reveals no suggestion that the alleged error, or counsel’s failure to properly preserve defendant’s present claim, deprived defendant of a fair trial.
Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, and matter remitted to the County Court of Broome County for a new trial.