Joel Stashenko

July 19, 2016 | New York Law Journal

The state Court of Appeals erred when it decided a defendant was not entitled to use as Brady material the psychiatric report of a woman the defendant was accused of sexually assaulting, a federal appeals court held.

By Andrew Denney and Joel Stashenko

4 minute read

July 19, 2016 | New York Law Journal

The Third Department said that although the trial judge failed to perform the third and final step of the process of reviewing a Batson challenge, the defense did not object properly and the matter was unpreserved for review.

By Joel Stashenko

4 minute read

July 18, 2016 | New York Law Journal

Proponents of creating new countywide arraignment courts outside of New York City say their approach would effectively address the state's long-standing difficulties of providing legal representation to all indigent criminal defendants. A bill approved by the state Senate and Assembly in the final hours of lawmakers' 2016 session makes practical sense for local magistrates, prosecutors, defense attorneys and defendants by consolidating the off-hours processing of many criminal suspects, supporters say.

By Joel Stashenko

14 minute read

July 15, 2016 | New York Law Journal

The maker of evergreen-shaped car air fresheners can pursue its trademark claim against a Kansas-based not-for-profit that is accused of marketing a rival deodorizer under a nearly identical mark, a New York federal judge has ruled.

By Joel Stashenko

9 minute read

July 14, 2016 | New York Law Journal

The city of Buffalo and its police department cannot be held liable for improperly retaining an officer who preyed sexually on women he encountered through his duties, a divided state appeals court has ruled.

By Joel Stashenko

5 minute read

July 12, 2016 | New York Law Journal

The Third Department said Warren County deputies improperly ignored Myron Green's request for an attorney after a fatal auto accident and instead administered a drug recognition evaluation that revealed he was impaired.

By Joel Stashenko

3 minute read

July 12, 2016 | New York Law Journal

The Fourth Department said a 1999 conviction under Georgia's burglary statute was not the equivalent of a burglary in New York and ordered resentencing for a defendant found to be a violent felony offender based on that predicate conviction.

By Joel Stashenko

4 minute read

July 11, 2016 | New York Law Journal

The injuries a firefighter suffered when he inhaled toxic gases have prompted a split in an Albany-based state appeals court over what dangers are unforeseeable in an inherently dangerous job and which ones come with the territory.

By Joel Stashenko

8 minute read

July 11, 2016 | New York Law Journal

A judge vacated the murder convictions of two men who have spent most of the past 20 years in prison for the slaying of a college student in Albany in 1997. A former Albany resident, now serving time in Ohio for murdering a Cuyahoga Falls woman, has confessed to the crime.

By Joel Stashenko

3 minute read

July 08, 2016 | New York Law Journal

Columbia University fired a mesothelioma research expert who was a central prosecution witness in the criminal case against New York state's former Assembly speaker without following the school's own termination procedures for tenured faculty, a judge ruled.

By Joel Stashenko

9 minute read