Senate Bill S8890

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8890

SPONSOR: MURRAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to the effect
the death of a defendant has on a pending appeal

 
PURPOSE:

To enact "Sarah's Law", named after murder victim Sarah Goode, ensuring
that the judgement of the trial court will remain in effect if a defend-
ant dies while appealing a criminal conviction.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 adds a new section 470.65 to the criminal procedure law
providing that where a defendant dies while a direct appeal of their
criminal conviction is pending, the appeal must be dismissed and the
judgement of the trial court remains in effect.

The new section 470.65 further provides that the people may apply to the
              

appropriate appellate division to reinstate the conviction in cases
where a conviction was previously vacated due to the death of the
defendant while an appeal was pending.

Section two provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In 2016 a jury convicted Dante Taylor of the brutal first-degree murder
of Sarah Goode, a young single mother from Medford in Suffolk County.
Taylor appealed his conviction, but died in prison while serving his
sentence of life without parole before his appeal was resolved.

Under the legal doctrine of abatement ab initio, Taylor's death while
appealing required that his original conviction be dismissed, despite
the fact that he was already serving a life sentence and that the appel-
late division never even ruled on whether his appeal had any validity.
Therefore, according to New York State law, no one has been convicted of
the murder of Sarah Goode.

This is a gross injustice to Sarah's memory, her surviving daughter, and
other family members. Dante Taylor lost the presumption of innocence
once he was convicted. When appealing a judgement, the burden of proof
shifts to the person convicted. Dismissing the conviction, regardless of
whether the appeal has any merit, denies crime victims the justice they
rightly deserve. It is an affront to trial judges and all members of the
judicial system who sincerely strive to deliver due process.

Other states have already moved to correct this injustice. In Massachu-
setts, the murder conviction of disgraced NFL start Aaron Hernandez was
vacated and all charges against him were dismissed after he committed
suicide while appealing his conviction. This led Massachusetts in 2019
to abolish abatement ab initio and re-instate his conviction.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that the
provisions of section one of this act shall only apply to convictions
that were vacated prior to the effective date of this act.