| People v Hill |
| 2013 NY Slip Op 03227 [106 AD3d 1497] |
| May 3, 2013 |
| Appellate Division, Fourth Department |
| The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v DiarraHill, Appellant. |
—[*1] Frank A. Sedita, III, District Attorney, Buffalo (David Panepinto of counsel), forrespondent.
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Erie County (Penny M. Wolfgang,J.), rendered May 2, 2011. The judgment convicted defendant, upon his plea of guilty, ofrobbery in the third degree.
It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum: On appeal from a judgment convicting him upon his guilty plea ofrobbery in the third degree (Penal Law § 160.05), defendant contends thatSupreme Court should have dismissed the indictment on constitutional speedy trialgrounds (see People v Taranovich, 37 NY2d 442, 444-445 [1975]). We rejectthat contention. The 15-month delay between the time of defendant's arrest and the timeof his plea was not unreasonable (see People v Manuel, 39 AD3d 1185, 1186 [2007], lvdenied 9 NY3d 878 [2007]; People v Morobel, 273 AD2d 871, 871 [2000],lv denied 95 NY2d 906 [2000]). In any event, much of the delay occurredbecause defendant, who had been transferred from jail to the psychiatric ward of a localhospital, had to be evaluated by psychiatrists to determine whether he was competent toproceed, and he refused to cooperate with the psychiatrists for several months. Defendantalso refused to take prescribed medication, thus making communication with his attorneydifficult if not impossible. Further delay was occasioned by the fact that the court, atdefendant's request, assigned a new attorney to represent him. Although defendant was incustody for much of the time, the charge was serious in nature; defendant threatened inwriting to kill a bank teller if she did not promptly comply with his request to hand overmoney. The court, in concluding that defendant's constitutional speedy trial rights werenot violated, properly weighed the relevant factors set forth by the Court of Appeals inTaranovich (37 NY2d at 445). Present—Scudder, P.J., Peradotto, Lindley,Valentino and Martoche, JJ.