People v Nazario
2011 NY Slip Op 05350 [85 AD3d 577]
June 21, 2011
Appellate Division, First Department
As corrected through Wednesday, August 10, 2011


The People of the State of New York,Respondent,
v
Robert Nazario, Appellant.

[*1]Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Jeffrey Dellheim of counsel), forappellant.

Robert Nazario, appellant pro se.

Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Karen Swiger of counsel), forrespondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Richard L. Price, J., at Singer hearing;Caesar D. , J., at nonjury trial and sentencing), rendered September 12, 2006, convictingdefendant of murder in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of 20 years to life,unanimously affirmed.

The hearing court properly denied defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment on theground of prearrest delay (see People v Singer, 44 NY2d 241 [1978]; People vTaranovich, 37 NY2d 442, 445 [1975]; see also United States v Lovasco, 431 US783 [1977]). Although the almost 12-year delay was significant, it was not due to bad faith.Instead, it was the result of the prosecutor's efforts to acquire substantial corroborating evidencein order to prove defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The investigative delays weresatisfactorily explained and were permissible exercises of prosecutorial discretion (see People v Decker, 13 NY3d 12[2009]). Furthermore, there is no indication that defendant was prejudiced by the delay.

We have considered and rejected defendant's pro se challenge to the sufficiency of the trialevidence. Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Andrias, Moskowitz, Richter and Abdus-Salaam, JJ.

Motion to amend pro se supplemental brief denied.


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