(Download) "Matter Jahron S." by Court of Appeals of New York * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Matter Jahron S.
- Author : Court of Appeals of New York
- Release Date : January 09, 1992
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 52 KB
Description
The appellant Jahron S. was arrested on July 13, 1989, in Jamaica, Queens. A petition filed the following day in Family Court,
Queens County, alleged that he had committed acts that if engaged in by an adult would constitute criminal possession of a
controlled substance in the third, fifth and seventh degrees. Attached to the petition was a supporting deposition in which
Police Officer James Henry stated that he had observed appellant in possession of 33 vials of cocaine in crack form, and that
"based upon [his] training and experience as a police officer assigned to a special narcotics unit with respect to the appearance,
handling and packaging of narcotics and other controlled substances," he believed the substance to be crack cocaine. The question
before this Court is whether this petition, taken together with its supporting deposition, was legally sufficient in the absence
of a laboratory report identifying the substance seized as cocaine. We conclude that it was not, and accordingly reverse the
order of the Appellate Division. The same day that the petition was filed, appellant's counsel moved that it be dismissed as legally insufficient since
there was no laboratory report attached to the petition and Officer Henry's account in the supporting deposition constituted
hearsay. The court denied the request at that time. By omnibus motion and accompanying affirmation dated August 7, 1989, appellant's
counsel again requested that the petition be dismissed for legal insufficiency. The presentment agency appended to its answering
affirmation a laboratory report dated July 18, 1989, which showed that the 33 vials seized from appellant contained 2,648
milligrams of crack cocaine. At a hearing before the Judge on August 15, 1989, appellant's counsel again requested that the
petition be dismissed for legal insufficiency, arguing that the presentment agency could not amend its petition by attaching
the laboratory report because Family Court Act § 311.5 provides that a petition cannot be amended to cure legal insufficiency.
The court reserved decision and finally denied appellant's motion to dismiss the petition on September 13, 1989.
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