People v Peauteau (Jean)

[*1] People v Peauteau (Jean) 2004 NY Slip Op 51902(U) [12 Misc 3d 135(A)] Decided on April 28, 2004 Appellate Term, Second Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.

Decided on April 28, 2004
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
APPELLATE TERM: 9th and 10th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS
PRESENT:: McCABE, P.J., RUDOLPH and ANGIOLILLO, JJ
2003-502 N CR.

The People of the State of New York, Appellant,

against

Jean P. Peauteau, Respondent.

Appeal by the People from an order of the District Court, Nassau County (L. Ruskin, J.), dated March 3, 2003, dismissing the accusatory instruments.

Order unanimously reversed on the law, accusatory instruments reinstated and matter remanded to the court below for all further proceedings thereon.

Trial courts have no statutory or inherent authority to dismiss a criminal proceeding for failure to prosecute (Matter of Morgenthau v Roberts, 65 NY2d 749, 752 [1985]; People v Douglass, 60 NY2d 194, 206 [1983]; People v Guzman, 168 AD2d 154, 157 [1991]; People v Gambino, NYLJ, Mar. 20, 2002 [App Term, 9th & 10th Jud Dists]), here based upon the prosecutor's 25-minute delay in appearing for a calendar call. Moreover, the order from which the People appeal reveals that the court did not act to vindicate defendant's statutory or constitutional right to the expeditious prosecution of the instant charges but to sanction the People for their alleged derelictions in unrelated matters (see People v Paredes, No. 2003-504 N CR [decided herewith]). In our view, the public interest in the resolution of criminal proceedings upon the application of substantive law superseded the court's interest in venting its exasperation, however justified, with prosecutors' dilatory behavior for which appropriate, alternative remedies are available.
Decision Date: April 28, 2004