Bill Text: NY A05689 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Streamlines the assignment of appellate counsel for indigent criminal defendants appealing their convictions in order to save time, money and resources to provide enhanced access to justice for vulnerable individuals.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Passed) 2021-11-15 - signed chap.616 [A05689 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A05689-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5689

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 23, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M. of A. CRUZ -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Codes

        AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to  streamlining
          the assignment of appellate counsel for indigent criminal defendants

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 380.55 of the criminal procedure law, as  added  by
     2  chapter 459 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
     3  § 380.55 Application for poor person relief on appeal.
     4    1. Where counsel has been assigned to represent a defendant [at trial]
     5  in  a  criminal  action  on the ground that the defendant is financially
     6  unable to retain counsel, the court may in its discretion at the time of
     7  sentencing entertain an application to grant the defendant  poor  person
     8  relief  on  appeal.  As part of an application for such relief, assigned
     9  counsel must represent that the defendant continues to be  eligible  for
    10  assignment  of  counsel  and that granting the application will expedite
    11  the appeal. If the court grants the application, it shall file a written
    12  order and shall provide a copy of the order to the appropriate appellate
    13  court. The denial of an application shall  not  preclude  the  defendant
    14  from  making  a de novo application for poor person relief to the appro-
    15  priate appellate court.
    16    2. Where counsel has been assigned to represent a defendant in a crim-
    17  inal action on the ground that the defendant is  financially  unable  to
    18  retain counsel, the appellate court shall presume the defendant eligible
    19  for  assignment  of counsel on appeal without further proof of eligibil-
    20  ity, and, thereby, issue an order assigning  such  counsel,  if  counsel
    21  provides  a  sworn  representation  that  the  defendant continues to be
    22  eligible for assignment of counsel.
    23    § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
    24  have become a law.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02759-01-1