A man serving a 25-year sentence will get a new trial because Bronx prosecutors failed to obtain leave from the court before re-presenting his case to a grand jury, leading to an unlawful murder charge, an appeals court has ruled.
A 4-1 panel of the Appellate Division, First Department, reversed Doran Allen’s 2014 conviction for first-degree manslaughter on Thursday. The majority said the murder charge “lacked jurisdictional legitimacy,” and violated Allen’s “constitutional right to be tried for a felony only upon a valid indictment.”
