ALBANY – A defendant was deprived of effective assistance of counsel because his attorneys failed to properly challenge the prosecution’s delay in bringing his case to trial, an appeals court found.
A unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, Third Department threw out both Nicholas Devino’s conviction for drug possession and the indictment it was based on, finding that the prosecution could not justify why police failed to locate Devino between Oct. 20, 2011, when he was named in a sealed indictment in Washington County Court, and June 2012, when he was arrested and returned to the county following a traffic stop in Chautauqua County, 300 miles away.
