| People v Beliard |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 07942 [67 AD3d 427] |
| November 5, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Wilkin Beliard, Appellant. |
—[*1]
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Gregory Carro, J.), rendered October 31,2007, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of attempted rape in the first degree, andsentencing him to a term of 3½ years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment based onpreindictment delay (see People v Singer, 44 NY2d 241 [1978]; People vTaranovich, 37 NY2d 442, 445 [1975]). Although the five-year delay was significant, thecrime was very serious, the absence of prejudice to defendant was demonstrated by hisstatements acknowledging his memory of the event as well as by the conclusiveness of the DNAevidence linking him to the crime, and the delay in arresting him was inadvertent rather thandesigned to obtain a tactical advantage. The primary cause of the delay was defendant's flight toanother country, and the inability of the police to locate him more promptly was satisfactorilyexplained (see People v Suero, 235 AD2d 357 [1997], lv denied 89 NY2d 1101[1997]). Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Andrias, Friedman, Nardelli and Moskowitz, JJ.