Judge Linda Poust Lopez
Gomez was arrested and charged with criminal possession of marijuana. He moved for dismissal under Criminal Procedure Law §30.30 on speedy trial grounds, arguing the entire adjourned time should be charged to prosecutors. The court noted Gomez was arraigned on April 6, 2012, and prosecutors stated ready. Yet, it found after numerous adjournments, mostly requested by the prosecution, on each call of the calendar, prosecutors stated not ready without explanation. The court stated while prosecutors did not need to continually repeat their readiness during the life of the case, when there was a substantial break in the proceedings, prosecutors must re-announce their readiness. It ruled the failure of prosecutors to announce ready when the case was actually on for trial, for almost five months, constituted a substantial break requiring them to re-announce their readiness. The court stated post-readiness delay may be charged to prosecutors when it was attributable to their inaction and directly implicated their ability to proceed to trial. It also noted prosecutors failed to make a record regarding the reason they were not ready. Thus, prosecutors were charged with 140 days, and Gomez’s motion to dismiss was granted.
