Senate Bill S7636

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S7636

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to appeals to an
intermediate appellate court by right by a criminal defendant

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To allow criminal defendants to appeal, as of right, (1) an order deny-
ing a motion made pursuant to section 440.10 of the Criminal Procedure
Law to vacate a judgment, and (2) an order denying a motion made pursu-
ant to section 440.20 of the Criminal Procedure Law to set aside a
sentence.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends section 450.15 of the criminal procedure
law ("Appeal by defendant to intermediate appellate court; in what cases
authorized by permission") to repeal subdivisions 1 and 2 (orders deny-
              

ing a motion to vacate a judgment or set aside a sentence other than one
of death).

Section 2 of the bill amends section 450.10 of the criminal procedure
law ("Appeal by defendant to intermediate appellate court; in what cases
authorized as of right") to add as new subdivisions 6 and 7 the two
subdivisions repealed from section 450.15 by section 1 of this bill.

Section 3 of the bill is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New York's Criminal Procedure Law provides convicted criminal defendants
with the ability to vacate a judgment of conviction for a variety of
reasons, from lack of jurisdiction to newly-discovered evidence (CPL
Section 440.10). Another provision of the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL
Section 440.20) allows a convicted defendant to move to set aside a
judgment on the grounds that it was unauthorized, illegally imposed or
otherwise invalid as a matter of law. Both of these provisions provide
critical opportunities for wrongfully-convicted defendants to correct a
miscarriage of justice.

Under current law, if a section 440.10 or 440.20 motion is denied by the
court, a defendant can only appeal that denial if the defendant obtains
a certificate granting leave to appeal, pursuant to section 460.15 of
the Criminal Procedure Law. The discretion to grant a 460.15 certificate
is solely in the hands of a single intermediate appellate judge. If the
section 440.10 or 440.20 motion is granted, however, the People have the
ability to appeal the order to vacate or set aside the sentence as of
right under Criminal Procedure Law section 450.20.

This legislation would put the state and criminal defendants on equal
footing by making defendants' right to appeal adverse 440.10 and 440.20
decisions consistent with the right afforded to the People

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None, new bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.